Baltics condemn China envoy’s stance on ex-Soviet nations

By JARI TANNER
Associated Press

HELSINKI (AP) — The three Baltic states have strongly condemned comments by China’s envoy to France who appeared to say in a recent French television interview that the former Soviet republics aren’t sovereign nations. The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in separate announcements late Saturday deemed statements by Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye as unacceptable. The diplomat was asked in a recent interview with French news channel LCI if he thought that the Crimean Peninsula belongs to Ukraine. He replied by drawing a parallel to ex-Soviet nations and said that there is no international agreement to “solidify their status as a sovereign country.”