Beijing: China respects the “sovereign independence” of former Soviet Union states, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday as it sought to distance itself from the controversial comments made by its envoy to France who questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet countries like Ukraine in a media interview.
Chinese envoy Lu Shaye said in an interview on French TV on Friday that Crimea was historically 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 materialise their sovereign status,” Lu added, according to a Reuters report.
The comments triggered outrage from governments across Europe with several asking Beijing to clarify the remarks.
Lu’s comments put a question mark on China’s repeated calls to respect the sovereignty of countries in the backdrop of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by ally Russia.
In response to a question about Crimea, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China’s position on the issue has not changed.
“Regarding territory and sovereignty issues, China’s stance is consistent and clear, which is respecting the sovereign independence and territorial integrity of all countries, and upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter,” Mao said at the regular ministry briefing on Monday.
The state-run tabloid Global Times reported Mao as saying that the Soviet Union was a federal state and had the status of an entity of international law in its entirety in foreign affairs.
“However, this does not deny the fact that each member republic of the Soviet Union has the status of a sovereign state after the dissolution of the Soviet Union,” Mao said, according to the report.
Ukraine on Sunday condemned Lu’s comments as “absurd” with Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak saying the status of post-Soviet countries was “enshrined in international law”. “It is strange to hear an absurd version of the ‘history of Crimea’ from a representative of a country that is scrupulous about its thousand-year history,” Podolyak said, referring to China.
Lu’s comments also puts China in an awkward position as it attempts to project itself as a neutral mediator in the Ukraine conflict.
When asked about Ukraine’s status, Mao said: “The country you mentioned is a formal member state of the UN, and only sovereign states can become formal members of the UN, which is common knowledge.”
