Germany 'astonished' at Chinese envoy’s comments on former Soviet states

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) – Germany on Monday said it was “greatly astonished” at comments made by the Chinese ambassador in Paris who questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet republics.

“It was with great astonishment that we read the statements made by the Chinese ambassador on French television. Especially since the statement is not consistent with the Chinese position known to us so far,” German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said at a routine press briefing in Berlin.

The Russian Federation and the former Soviet states are recognized within existing borders and "their sovereignty and territorial integrity are inviolable,” he added.

China’s ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, said during a television interview that former Soviet countries don’t have “effective status in international law,” triggering a diplomatic uproar, especially in Ukraine and the Baltic states.

Lu made the remarks in response to a question about whether Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, was part of Ukraine.

“Even these ex-Soviet countries don’t have an effective status in international law because there was no international agreement to materialize their status as sovereign countries,” Lu said, after first noting that the question of Crimea “depends on how the problem is perceived” as the region was “at the beginning Russian” and then “offered to Ukraine during the Soviet era.”

Ukraine also slammed the Chinese envoy's remarks.

“All post-Soviet Union countries have a clear sovereign status enshrined in international law,” Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukraine’s presidential adviser, said on Twitter on Sunday.

Podolyak claimed that an exception to this was Russia, which he said “fraudulently took a seat in the UN Security Council.”

“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. If you want to be a major political player, do not parrot the propaganda of Russian outsiders,” he added.