- In first public response after controversial comments, Lu Shaye questions freedom of speech in France
- Lu, who sparked a diplomatic crisis after questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet republics, blamed US for ‘unscrupulously’ undermining China-Europe relations
China’s ambassador to France has broken his silence over a diplomatic uproar he triggered by questioning the sovereignty of post-Soviet republics, saying the furious reaction “stirred up” by a French broadcaster was “very unfair”.
“I think this debate is not about whether I was right or wrong, but whether there is freedom of speech in public debate on television,” Lu Shaye said in an interview on Wednesday with Régis de Castelnau, a lawyer who owns the blog page Vu Du Droit.
The embassy released a transcript of the interview on Saturday.
The controversy erupted in April after an interview with French network TF1 in which he said former Soviet countries did not have “effective status in international law” due to a lack of “international agreement to materialise their status of a sovereign country”.
The remarks prompted an outcry in Europe, especially among the Baltic states.
Lu said he had a right to express his personal views, which were not “made up” and could be debated, adding that news channel La Chaîne Info under French network TF1 had instead “launched an attack” against him.
“The day after the interview, they invited some so-called China experts on the same programme to criticise and condemn me. That is very unkind, isn’t it?” he said. “They have violated journalistic ethics.”
He insisted that his personal views had neither hindered official ties with the ex-Soviet states nor contradicted Beijing’s diplomatic policies.
“Some people made a big deal out of nothing,” he said.
The television interview sparked an uproar from dozens of officials from European countries, including the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, who demanded an explanation from Beijing.
Soon after, Beijing, which has been trying to strengthen ties with the European Union, tried to stem the anger by distancing itself from Lu’s comments, while the Chinese embassy in Paris deleted the interview transcripts from its official WeChat channel.
“Ambassador Lu Shaye’s remarks on the Ukraine issue were not a statement of politics, but an expression of personal views during a televised debate … China’s position on relevant issues has not changed,” the embassy wrote on its website in French, echoing remarks made by the foreign ministry.
“China respects the sovereign state status of the relevant republics after the dissolution of the Soviet Union,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
Lu has had a record of controversial comments during his term, including a call for the population of Taiwan to be re-educated to eliminate separatist thoughts.
In his interview with de Castelnau, the legal blogger, Lu criticised the United States for “unscrupulously undermining the once sound China-Europe relations” to achieve its strategic goal of “containing China”, adding that Washington should take the blame for the “very poor” China-US relations.
Lu, a former head of the foreign ministry department for African affairs, also deflected Western accusations that Beijing created debt traps on the continent.
Apart from plundering resources, the former Western colonisers did “nothing” to foster development, he said.
Source: South China Morning Post
