Following Beijing’s clarification that its ambassador to France expressed his personal view when he questioned the sovereignty of ex-Soviet nations, the issue is now “closed”, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has said.
“I think there should be no further continuation. China has officially clarified the ambassador’s words, saying that this is his personal opinion. […] In this case, the issue is closed,” Landsbergis told reporters on Tuesday.
“It is, of course, interesting to see quite big differences of opinion in such, I’d say, an experienced diplomatic service,” he added.
Lu Shaye, China’s ambassador in Paris, said in an interview with France’s news channel LCI last Friday that ex-Soviet Union countries “do not have effective status under international law because there’s no international accord to concretise their status as a sovereign country”.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday that Beijing respected the “sovereign state status” of all ex-Soviet countries.
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia on Monday summoned China’s diplomats to express their protest over Lu’s remark.
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The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “the Chinese ambassador’s remark distorts the history of the Baltic states and other countries”.
“The three Baltic states were illegally occupied. A law does not arise from injustice – this is the principle of international law, according to which the end of the illegal Soviet occupation meant the continuity of the Baltic statehood,” it said.
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