France's Macron criticizes Chinese envoy's remarks on former Soviet states

ANKARA

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday criticized a Chinese envoy's remarks questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet states.

"I think that it is not a diplomat's place to use that kind of language," Macron was quoted as saying on the sidelines of the North Sea Summit in Ostend, Belgium, by local broadcaster BFMTV.

The French president expressed "solidarity with the countries attacked during the reading of their history and their borders."

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

Lu made the remarks in response to a question about whether Crimea, which Russia annexed 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.”

European and Ukrainian officials slammed the remarks.