Beijing has been compelled to backtrack after its ambassador to France sparked a furore in Europe on the weekend by questioning the authorized standing of former Soviet states and Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea.

China’s international ministry on Monday contradicted the feedback from Lu Shaye, who had infuriated European capitals and fuelled mistrust about Beijing’s ambitions to mediate the battle in Ukraine by suggesting that former Soviet states lacked “efficient standing beneath worldwide regulation”.

Lu added that the problem of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, was “not easy to reply with just a few phrases”.

On Monday, China’s international ministry spokesperson Mao Ning informed a press briefing: “After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, China was one of many first international locations to ascertain diplomatic relations with related international locations.

“China respects the sovereign standing of the republics after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.” 

Following Lu’s remarks, which have been made in an interview with French information channel LCI, France’s international ministry demanded that Beijing make clear its place. Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukraine’s presidential adviser, described Lu’s model of the historical past of Crimea as “absurd”.

Requested whether or not China would retract Lu’s feedback, Mao responded: “What I can let you know is that my reply on the earlier query represents the formal place of the Chinese language authorities.”

Analysts urged that the international ministry’s response represented a repudiation of the remarks from Lu, who has constructed a fame as one among China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats identified for his or her combative model.

Lu had mentioned that “these ex-Soviet Union international locations shouldn’t have efficient standing beneath worldwide regulation as a result of there is no such thing as a worldwide accord to concretise their standing as a sovereign nation”.

“Legally talking, [Lu’s stance] is a misstatement, which isn’t suitable with the place the Chinese language authorities has declared many occasions,” mentioned Shi Yinhong, professor of worldwide relations at Renmin College in Beijing. “Politically, it additional deteriorates relations with jap European international locations, and doubtlessly has a ripple impact on central Asian ones.”

The three Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia mentioned they’d summon senior Chinese language diplomats on Tuesday to protest towards Lu’s remarks, which plenty of ministers condemned.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s international minister, mentioned the remarks have been “fully unacceptable” and demonstrated why the Baltic states didn’t belief Beijing’s intentions as a peace dealer in Ukraine.

Latvia’s international ministry famous that Lu’s feedback “clearly contradict” China’s place in help of the “sovereignty, independence and territorial indivisibility of nations”. 

Italy’s Antonio Tajani mentioned he disagreed with the ambassador’s feedback, including that China should “respect all [EU] member states”.

EU international affairs ministers have been planning to debate Lu’s feedback at a gathering in Luxembourg on Monday as a part of a wider convention to “assess and recalibrate” the bloc’s stance in the direction of Beijing, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell mentioned forward of the talks.

However China’s efforts to stroll again the ambassador’s claims have been unlikely to fulfill the Baltics, which argue they have been by no means a part of the Soviet Union as a result of they have been illegally annexed. Most western international locations didn’t recognise that annexation.

“Lithuania by no means joined the USSR. Moscow illegally occupied our territory, so we resisted till we restored our independence and the Purple Military went again residence. We’re not post-Soviet, we’re never-Soviet,” Landsbergis wrote on Twitter.

A gaggle of greater than 80 parliamentarians from numerous European international locations signed a petition calling for the French authorities to declare Lu “persona non grata”, that means they’d not recognise him as a diplomat.

Talking earlier than the Chinese language international ministry briefing, Borrell mentioned the EU would present “a powerful place” in response. Charles Michel, the president of the European Council who chairs summits of the bloc’s 27 leaders, mentioned that EU-China coverage could be on the official agenda of the subsequent assembly in June.

Relating to Ukraine, China’s international ministry didn’t handle Crimea instantly, saying solely that its place was “clear and constant”.

“We’re keen to proceed to work with the worldwide neighborhood to make our personal contribution to the political settlement of the Ukraine disaster,” the spokesperson mentioned.

The total transcript of the ambassador’s interview was uploaded to the WeChat account of China’s embassy in France on Monday, however simply hours later it was not accessible. Mao denied any information of this.