China tries to defuse EU diplomatic crisis after ambassador to France questions ex-Soviet republics’ sovereignty

China has walked back comments made by a senior diplomat that questioned the sovereignty of post-Soviet states, amid a spiralling diplomatic crisis.

Lu Shaye, Beijing’s ambassador in Paris, said in a TV interview last Friday that ex-Soviet republics had “no effective status” in international law, sparking angry responses from across Europe – led by the three Baltic countries that regained their independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.

“China respects the sovereign state status of the relevant republics after the dissolution of the Soviet Union,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing on Monday.