BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th April, 2023) EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that he is satisfied with China's official clarifications on a statement by Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye challenging the sovereignty of former Soviet states.
Earlier in the day, the Chinese embassy in Paris said that the ambassador to France did not speak for China when he suggested that former Soviet republics lacked sovereignty and that Crimea was essentially Russian. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, commenting on Lu's remarks, that China respects sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all states.
"I was interested in China's official position, it has been clarified. As one could expect, the matter is not to put into question the sovereignty of former Soviet republics, be it the South Caucasus or Baltic states or countries in Central Asia," Borrell said at a press conference following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
On Friday, Lu said in an interview that ex-Soviet Union countries did not have "effective status" under international law because there was "no international accord to concertize their status" as sovereign countries. The ambassador also spoke about Russia's original sovereignty over Crimea. The interview came ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday where the top diplomats were set to discuss, among other things, the EU's relations with Beijing.
