China respects "the state of sovereignty of the former Soviet republics".
This is what the spokesman for the Beijing Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, said.
The clarification came after the storm raised by the Chinese ambassador in Paris Lu Shaye who questioned the sovereignty of the former Soviet countries, including Ukraine, in an interview on French TV LCI on Friday.
"China respects the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries and upholds the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter", added the spokeswoman, according to which "after the collapse of the Soviet Union, China "It was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with relevant countries. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China has always adhered to the principle of mutual respect and equality to develop friendly and cooperative bilateral relations."
Beijing's ambassador to France ended up in the storm after saying in an interview on Friday that the countries born from the dissolution of the USSR "have no effective status under international law because there is no international agreement confirming their status of sovereign nations".
"The Foreign Affairs Council will start talking about China, to recalibrate our position, probably in view of the European Council in June. How do we proceed with the recalibration? We must continue to discuss because it is one of the most important foreign policy issues".
This was stated by the high representative of EU foreign policy Josep Borrell arriving at the Foreign Affairs council, specifying that "there will be a strong position to ask for a clarification of the words of the Chinese ambassador" in France.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, for his part, declared that "China is an interlocutor but it must respect our position, it must respect the European Union and every single member state. China at the moment is a key country, we have need to push Russia to leave Ukraine. But I disagree with the Chinese ambassador in Paris."
For his part, Jan Lipavskì, Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, also arriving at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, said that the attitude of the Chinese diplomat "is totally unacceptable, we denounce these words, it is a surprising statement by every State who should understand how international relations are conducted, we expect the case to be clarified."
Borrell himself yesterday defined the Beijing diplomat's statements as "unacceptable", adding that Brussels "can only assume that these statements do not represent China's official policy".
The governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have today summoned the Chinese ambassadors stationed in their respective countries for clarifications after the statements made yesterday by the Chinese ambassador in Paris.
"We have asked our partners to support us in all possible ways, summoning ambassadors from other capitals, arguing" that the position of the Chinese ambassador "is not acceptable and asking for clarifications" because "it is a new phenomenon, which we have not seen
before " but which "reminds us of what happened with Ukraine when Moscow's propaganda questioned its sovereignty and
territorial integrity," Landsbergis explained.
"It is a narrative that we have heard from Russia and which is now being used by another allied country, if not on a military level, at least on a political one", added the minister, drawing a parallel between the messages sent by Moscow and Beijing.
"It's very dangerous these days," he said.
"We don't trust China as a possible mediator" to end the war in Ukraine, since, he concluded, "she has chosen one side and that side is Russia."