Photo/Illutration Chinese Ambassador in France Lu Shaye attends the MEDEF union summer forum renamed La Rencontre des Entrepreneurs de France, LaREF, at the Paris Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Aug. 29, 2019. (Reuters Photo)

LUXEMBOURG--Recent remarks by China’s ambassador to France questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet states such as Ukraine are totally unacceptable, several EU foreign ministers said before a meeting on Monday.

“It is totally unacceptable,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said ahead of the Luxembourg meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers. “I hope the bosses of this ambassador will make these things straight.”

Asked about his position on whether Crimea was part of Ukraine or not, Chinese ambassador to Paris Lu Shaye said in an interview aired on French television on Friday that historically it was part of Russia and had been offered to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

“These ex-USSR countries don’t have actual status in international law because there is no international agreement to materialize their sovereign status,” Lu added.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said such comments were “completely unacceptable” and said the three Baltic countries - all formerly part of the Soviet Union--would summon Chinese representatives later in the day to officially ask for clarification and check if its position had changed.

France, Ukraine and the three Baltic states all expressed dismay at Lu’s comments over the weekend.

Asked if Lu’s stance represented China’s official position, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Beijing respected the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries and upholds the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.

China has been “objective and impartial” on issues of sovereignty, the spokesperson told a regular news briefing.

CHINA STRATEGY

China’s cooperation with Europe and other nations was “endless” just as its ties with Russia were “unlimited”, China’s envoy to the European Union has said separately, giving some reassurance about China’s neutrality over Ukraine in an interview published on Monday.

It was unclear when Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassador to the EU, gave the interview to the Chinese news outlet The Paper.

But its publication came hard on the heels of the remarks by China’s ambassador to France.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the 27-nation bloc would, at Monday’s meeting “assess and recalibrate (its) strategy towards China,” and that the Chinese ambassador to France’s comments would be part of the discussion.

“We will have to continue discussions about China, it is one of the most important issues of our foreign policy,” he said.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he disagreed with Lu’s comments, while Luxembourg’s foreign minister Jean Asselborn called Lu’s remarks a “blunder” and said efforts were being made to calm things down.

Lu has earned himself a reputation as one of China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats, so called for their hawkish and abrasive style.

In France, he has been summoned to the foreign ministry several times, including for suggesting France was abandoning old people in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic and for calling a respected China scholar at a French think-tank a “mad hyena.”

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