Chinese ambassador to France provokes diplomatic outcry
Lu Shaye, Chinese ambassador in Paris, has just provoked a diplomatic upheaval, the aftershocks of which are difficult to predict. Questioned this Friday by the star host of the LCI continuous news channel, Darius Rochebin, he declared that Ukraine is, in terms of history, a Russian territory before adding that from the point of view of international law the nations resulting from the break-up of the former soviet union have ambiguous statuses. “ The former members of the Soviet Union have no effective status as sovereign states in international law. he asserted.
Diplomatic thunderbolt in the Parisian sky
The Baltic republics reacted immediately. With different tones. Latvian Foreign Minister Edgard Rinkievics denounces: “these are totally unacceptable statements. We expect explanations from the Chinese side and the immediate retraction of this statement .” Equally offensive, his Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielus Lansdsbergis tweeted: “ This is why the Baltic countries do not trust China to mediate in this war. For his part, the head of Estonian diplomacy, Margus Tashkna, is sorry: “ It is sad that the representative of the People's Republic of China has such opinions; such a position is incomprehensible, ” he tweeted.
The Kiev ambassador to Paris, whose country spares China, a major importer of its cereals, and which has, despite everything, condemned the violation of international borders at the UN, takes refuge in humor: "Either this man has obvious problems with geography (…) or his statements contradict Beijing's position , ”notes the Ukrainian representative.
Coming a few days after President Macron's visit to China - described as a success despite his controversial statements following the back-to-back dismissal of the Middle Empire and the United States on the question of Formosa - the Chinese diplomat's remarks are messy. The Quai d'Orsay spokeswoman also quickly spoke to say that France hoped that Lu Shaye's remarks did not represent Beijing's position.
Political speculations
Politically, this exit torpedoes the approach of President Xi jinping who has offered his good offices to, if not put an end to the conflict born of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, at least achieve a ceasefire.
Indeed, even if the Western capitals knew the closeness that Moscow and Beijing have cultivated in recent years, they agreed to follow China's proposals to, on the one hand, prevent this country from taking up the Kremlin's cause definitively and, on the other hand, being able to count on a third country which can, when the time comes, make Putin listen to reason, whose economy is now largely dependent on its powerful eastern neighbour.
The chancelleries speculate as to whether this diplomatic bomb is the result of a personal slippage of the ambassador or the expression of an assumed approach by China. For many observers, asking this question is part of the Coué method. Lu Shaye is a diplomat who already has solid experience behind him and, having been posted in French-speaking Africa for a long time, he speaks good French.
If the Chinese ambassador's remarks reflected a politico-diplomatic vision of China, this would pave the way for worrying geopolitical upheavals. From what date should a border be considered legal? Observers have already maliciously noted that there was a time when the Russian city of Vladivostok was Chinese.
Source : websites