The Baltic Countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are demanding answers after the Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye said they have no “effective status, as we say, under international law because there’s no international accord to concretise their status as a sovereign country.” Lu gave this response when asked if Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, belonged to Ukraine. The Chinese embassy in France clarified on its website that Lu’s comments were “an expression of personal views during a televised debate.” From Beijing, a spokesperson for the foreign affairs ministry said, “China respects all countries’ sovereignty.” Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s foreign affairs minister said, “We’re not post-Soviet countries, we’re countries that were illegally occupied by the Soviet Union.” Chinese representatives in all three countries have been summoned to clarify Lu’s remarks.
