Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia summon Chinese ambassadors over comments about post-Soviet countries’ sovereignty

This is reported by LRT.

Diplomats were summoned to Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn after the Chinese ambassador to France made remarks that were deemed unacceptable by the Baltic countries.

Latvia's Foreign Minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs, emphasized that the comments made by the Chinese ambassador about international law and national sovereignty were unacceptable, and demanded an explanation and refutation of the statement. He stated that the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had summoned the authorized chargé d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Riga for an explanation, which was agreed with Lithuania and Estonia.

The minister also noted that he will raise the issue of the inadmissibility of these statements during the summit of the EU countries.

The Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, noted that such statements by China are the reason why the Baltic countries oppose China's involvement as a peace mediator in Ukraine. He mentioned that the Chinese ambassador's claim that Crimea belongs to Russia, and the borders of their countries have no legal basis, is unacceptable.

Beijing has not responded to these statements yet.

• On April 22, it was reported that the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will summon the Chinese ambassador over statements by another Chinese diplomat about the sovereignty of post-Soviet countries.

• On April 23, France expressed its "full solidarity" with respect to the sovereignty of the former Soviet republics after the statement of the ambassador of the People's Republic of China.

• Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the President's Office, emphasized that all post-Soviet countries, except Russia, have a clear sovereign status.