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Speaking to reporters on Apr. 24, a spokesperson of China's foreign ministry said that “China respects the sovereign state status of the participating republics after the dissolution of the Soviet Union”, according to AFP.

"China respects the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries and upholds the purposes and principles of the UN Charter," Mao Ning stated.

She also said that China was one of the first nations to forge diplomatic ties with the states in question.

Envoy questioned states' sovereignty

The clarification came after China’s envoy to France questioned the status of ex-Soviet countries including Ukraine, according to Reuters.

In an interview with a French television channel aired on Apr. 21, Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye was asked whether he considered Crimea, which was annexed in 2014 by Russia, as part of Ukraine.

To that, he said that Crimea was historically part of Russia and that the former premier of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev offered it to Ukraine.

Additionally, he also questioned the sovereignty of other former Soviet republics, including those of the Baltic states.

"These ex-USSR countries don't have actual status in international law because there is no international agreement to materialise their sovereign status”, he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Dismay over comments

Lu’s comments drew ire from France as well as Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

“We stress our full solidarity with all of our allies and partners concerned, who have gained their long-awaited independence after decades of oppression,” said a spokesperson from France’s Foreign Ministry, according to The Guardian.

“The annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 is illegal under international law,” the ministry reiterated.

Lu’s remarks also seemingly contradicted the statement of China's stance on the Ukrainian crisis issued in February 2023, in which said that it respected the sovereignty of "all countries".

In response to Lu’s comments, Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that what the envoy said was "absurd" and that all former Soviet Union countries, except Russia, have a clear sovereign status.

All post-Soviet Union countries have a clear sovereign status enshrined in international law. Except for Russia, which fraudulently took a seat in the UN Security Council. It is strange to hear an absurd version of the "history of Crimea" from a representative of a country that…

— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) April 23, 2023

Calling for explanation

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia also said that they would be summoning the Chinese ambassadors to their countries for an explanation, Bloomberg reported.

All three states were formerly part of the Soviet bloc which collapsed in 1991.

Latvia’s foreign minister Edgars Rinkēvičs said that Lu’s remarks were “completely unacceptable”, according to the Financial Times.

He demanded an explanation and a retraction of the comments.

Lithuania’s foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis also tweeted in response to the Chinese envoy's remarks.

If anyone is still wondering why the Baltic States don't trust China to "broker peace in Ukraine", here's a Chinese ambassador arguing that Crimea is Russian and our countries' borders have no legal basis. pic.twitter.com/JaloJnSEx3

— Gabrielius Landsbergis🇱🇹 (@GLandsbergis) April 22, 2023

Estonia’s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna similarly described Lu’s comments as a “false and a misinterpretation of history”, Financial Times reported.

Diplomatic backdrop

The controversy came a few weeks after France’s President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China.

He had attracted criticism for remarking that Europe should not be a “vassal” in the U.S.-China geopolitical rivalry, as well as in any potential conflict over Taiwan.

The French president also said that he wished to engage China towards “ a shared responsibility for peace” in Ukraine, Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, China continued to stress their position on Taiwan, in light of the meeting between Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as well as former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou's visit to China.

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Top image via Getty Images - China News Service