​France expressed “concern” on Saturday night after statements by China’s ambassador to France denied the sovereignty of countries created as a result of the Soviet Union and questioned Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, reports AFP.

Map of CrimeaPhoto: Marek Uliasz / Alamy / Profimedia Images

In response to a question from the French news station LCI on Friday evening, Lou Chaillet assessed that the countries of the former USSR “do not have an effective status in international law, since there is no international agreement that would specify their status as a sovereign country.”

Regarding the Crimean Peninsula, the Ukrainian territory that Russia has occupied since 2014, he said:

“It depends on how we perceive this problem. There is a story. Crimea was originally in Russia. Khrushchev was the one who offered Crimea to Ukraine during the Soviet Union.”

The Chinese diplomat called for abandoning disputes over the issue of the post-Soviet border. “Currently, the most urgent thing is to stop, to reach a truce between Russia and Ukraine,” he said.

France is “confused” by the Chinese ambassador’s statement

France’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it was “alarmingly” aware of the remarks, asking China to “say (if they) reflect its position, which we hope is not the case.”

Ukraine was internationally recognized “within the borders, including Crimea, in 1991 by the entire international community, including China, after the collapse of the USSR, as a new member state of the UN,” Paris insisted, reminding that the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in 2014 is “illegal according to with international law”.

While Beijing officially claims neutrality, Chinese President Xi Jinping has never condemned the Russian invasion or even spoken on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Instead, he recently visited Moscow to reaffirm his partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin, more like an anti-Western front.

During a visit to China in early April, Emmanuel Macron called on Xi Jinping to “bring Russia to its senses” over Ukraine and not to supply arms to Moscow. (Agerpress)