Riga [Latvia], April 24: The Baltic states have reacted with indignation to statements by the Chinese ambassador in France that ex-Soviet republics are not necessarily sovereign.
Latvia's Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics announced on Twitter on Saturday evening that he had summoned the charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Riga for Monday because of the "completely unacceptable" remarks. The move was coordinated with Lithuania and Estonia, he said.
"We expect an explanation and a complete retraction of this statement from the Chinese side," the chief diplomat of the Baltic EU and Nato country continued.
In an interview on French television, Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye questioned the sovereignty of states that were once part of the Soviet Union. Asked whether Crimea belonged to Ukraine, the diplomat said it all depended on how one looked at the issue. To an intervention by the moderator that the Black Sea peninsula occupied by Russia since 2014 was part of Ukraine under international law, Shaye countered: "In international law, even these countries of the former Soviet Union have no effective status because there is no international agreement to concretise their status as a sovereign country."
"The Chinese diplomat's remarks are incomprehensible, and we condemn such remarks towards an independent and sovereign country," said Estonia's Foreign Minister MargusTsahkna. His Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis tweeted that "if anyone still wonders 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." The French Foreign Ministry took note of the statements "with dismay," a spokeswoman said on Sunday.
"We express our full solidarity with all our affected allies and partners who have gained long-awaited independence after decades of oppression." She added that China must now clarify whether the ambassador's statement represents the Chinese position. The Soviet Union and Germany alternately occupied Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania during World War II.
After the end of the war, the three small Baltic Sea states in north-eastern Europe became Soviet republics against their will and remained under Soviet rule for decades.
It was not until 1991 that they regained their independence; since 2004 they have belonged to the EU and NATO.
Source: Qatar Tribune
