James Palmer
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Chinese Diplomat Goes Off Message<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, China is dealing with the diplomatic fallout from ill-judged comments made by its ambassador to France, Lu Shaye. During a TV interview last Friday, Lu seemed to question the sovereignty of former Soviet states such as Ukraine. \u201cEven these ex-Soviet countries don\u2019t have an effective status in international law because there was no international agreement to materialize their status as sovereign countries,\u201d he said. The remark prompted immediate outrage, especially among the Baltic states<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n European politicians already skeptical of China seized on<\/a> Lu\u2019s comments. Despite French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s recent red-carpet visit to Beijing, China\u2019s relationship with much of Europe has declined since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic\u2014and even more so since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. A stalled<\/a> trade deal between China and the European Union now appears dead<\/a>. Beijing\u2019s reputation has especially suffered in Eastern Europe, thanks in part to its attempt to bully Lithuania<\/a> over its relations with Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet Lu\u2019s remarks diverge from China\u2019s official position: Beijing has never questioned the legitimacy of former Soviet states and has enjoyed relatively good relationships with them for much of the last three decades. When asked about Lu\u2019s comments on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning\u00a0said<\/a>, \u201cChina respects the status of the former Soviet republics as sovereign countries after the Soviet Union\u2019s dissolution.\u201d The Chinese Embassy in Paris\u00a0removed<\/a>\u00a0the online transcript of Lu\u2019s comments and said he spoke in a\u00a0private capacity<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, how did Lu make such a slip-up? The ambassador has a record of aggressive nationalist comments. Last year, Lu referred to the need to subject the Taiwanese public to \u201creeducation<\/a>\u201d after a hypothetical Chinese conquest; he also accused \u201cforeign forces<\/a>\u201d of being behind the mass protests that eventually helped end China\u2019s strict zero-COVID policy. In 2019, while he was ambassador to Canada, Lu accused Canada of \u201cwhite supremacy<\/a>\u201d for detaining Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lu has openly boasted about his so-called wolf warrior<\/a> status, and so far the aggressive posturing seems to have boosted his career. After all, he landed the cushy post in France. But unlike some instances of wolf warrior diplomacy, Lu\u2019s recent statement doesn\u2019t align with any Chinese goal. He may have intended to say something more moderate, such as that post-Soviet territorial disputes are not fully resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine puts China in an awkward position. Beijing supports Moscow both because of their long-standing near-alliance and shared anti-Western sentiment, while its diplomatic language has stressed sovereignty<\/a> and self-determination. However, China defines sovereignty on its own terms; its conception has never included Taiwan or Tibet. (It also sees the dissolution of the Soviet Union as a cautionary tale<\/a>.) It\u2019s possible some Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials see the sovereignty of post-Soviet states as not fully determined\u2014an idea that Lu could have repeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n