France summons Chinese ambassador over statements on Crimea
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Lu Shaye has been called to the French foreign ministry, according to Monday's media reports.
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Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye October 7th 2019 at the Franco-Chinese Conference in Nice, France (EPA)
As a result of his recent comments on the status of Crimea, the Chinese ambassador to Paris Lu Shaye has been called to the French foreign ministry, according to Monday's media reports.
On April 24, according to the French newspaper Le Monde, the ambassador will be welcomed by Luis Vassy, the head of Catherine Colonna's ministry. According to the article, the ambassador has already received many summonses to appear before the French foreign ministry.
Foreign Minister of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis had earlier in the day said that Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia will also call on China to explain Lu's remarks.
Lu said that Crimea was traditionally a part of Russia and was offered to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in an interview with the French television network LCI on Friday. Washington is not interested in resolving the Ukrainian situation, the envoy stated. The former Soviet republics' sovereignty was also questioned by Lu, who pointed out that there is no international accord establishing their position as sovereign nations, hence they have no real standing in international law.
The Chinese Ambassador to France, Lu, was requested in a letter by roughly 80 European parliamentarians to be made persona non grata because of his rejection of the sovereignty of the former Soviet Union states, according to the newspaper on Sunday.
Beijing reaffirmed on Monday that it accepted the "sovereign state status" of the former Soviet states.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning assured reporters that "China respects the sovereign state status of the participating republics after the dissolution of the Soviet Union."
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Crimea was part of independent Ukraine before becoming a member of Russia following a vote in 2014. The results of the referendum are not recognized by Ukraine or the Western nations, which also view Crimea as a Russian-occupied territory.
