A Chinese ambassador who questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet states has undermined Beijing’s position at a pivotal moment in its relationship with the EU.
Although Beijing quickly sought to disown Lu Shaye’s commentsInsisting that he recognized the sovereignty of post-Soviet states, the furor coincided with the start this week of EU efforts to formulate a new policy towards China, which its 27 leaders will discuss at a summit in June.
Analysts said the explosion of Lu, one of China’s largest “wolf warriors— diplomats known for their aggressive and unapologetic rhetoric — have threatened to undermine Xi Jinping’s efforts to portray Beijing as a peacemaker in Ukraine.
In recent months, the Chinese president has also courted the European powers, welcoming the visits of the German Olaf Scholz and the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron.
“Lu’s comments and their timing are not very helpful for larger efforts to alienate EU countries from the United States or position China as a neutral peace broker for Russia and Ukraine.” , said Austin Strange, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at the University of Hong Kong.
“Questioning the sovereignty of EU member states gives a hard time to politicians and domestic publics opposed to better relations with China, especially those who resent China’s reluctance to condemn Russia.”
Lu’s remarks in an interview with French news channel LCI last week, in which he said that “the countries of the former Soviet Union have no effective status under international law”, have amplified concerns in Europe about China’s close relationship with Russia.
Despite Beijing’s efforts to limit the damage, with its embassy in France saying Lu was expressing his personal views, the ambassador’s claims figured prominently in preliminary talks between EU foreign ministers on their new China politics on Monday.
Officials briefed on the meeting said the case bolstered arguments by countries that caution against treating China as a trustworthy global power, especially in the context of the war in Ukraine.
The EU’s new policy towards China would retain its ‘partner, competitor, rival’ trifecta but ‘recalibrate’ the importance given to each aspect, the bloc’s diplomacy chief Josep Borrell said after chairing the Foreign Ministers’ debate.
“Today it is clear that the dimension of rivalry has increased…the dimension of competition has also increased,” he told reporters. “We expect China to act to defend international rules and standards, in their entirety and not selectively.”
Borrell said Beijing’s “new approach” would reflect the views of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who this month called for “new defensive tools” to protect sectors like quantum computing and artificial intelligence from a “more assertive” China.
But some analysts questioned the overreading of a diplomat’s statements, saying that China’s overall policy was clearly to improve relations with the EU, despite tensions stemming from Ukraine and friction with the UNITED STATES.
“I think different diplomats have different styles. Maybe sometimes, for some people, their lyrics are considered provocative, [but] it’s completely normal,” said Shi Zhiqin, an expert on China-EU relations at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy.
Others said Lu’s background suggested he might have more freedom to speak out than conventional diplomats. Unusually for a foreign ministry official, he served as vice mayor of Wuhan, the capital of central Hubei province, in 2014 and was appointed to a high-level Communist Party post the following year.
“You don’t normally see Chinese diplomats being given a post in the CCP bureaucracy in the provinces, and the posting to the policy research bureau is unusual,” said Charlie Parton, a former British diplomat who spent many years working in China.
“It is not impossible for an MFA [Ministry of Foreign Affairs] official, but it seems to indicate that he is out of the ordinary and therefore enjoys more freedom, or has more important connections than a normal diplomat.
This independence is reflected in the history of Lu’s provocative comments, such as claims last year that foreign forces have taken advantage of widespread protests against Covid-19 controls in China.
The French foreign ministry also summoned him in 2020 during the first coronavirus outbreak for an article published on the Chinese embassy website suggesting France was letting residents of nursing homes die.
Experts wonder if he went too far this time, though. This year, another prominent “wolf warrior”, former foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, was transferred to an obscure department. There was no official explanation for the move.
But some analysts said that despite the controversy, support for the diplomat in China could remain strong.
The subtext of his comments questioning the sovereignty of countries in the former Soviet Union, including those in the Baltics, was China’s concerns about Taiwan, said Lee Kuan Yew China expert Drew Thompson. National University of Singapore School of Public Policy.
Lu’s remarks about former Soviet states followed a heated debate with the TV host over Taiwan’s right to self-determination. EU leaders have warned Beijing not to use military force against Taiwan, over which China claims sovereignty. Lithuania also has accused China of economic coercion after Vilnius allowed Taipei to open a representative office there.
“The undertone of his remarks underscored that Taiwan also lacked sovereignty and legitimacy under international law,” Thompson said.
“He was intentionally defending government policy and the party. His approach, while nationalist, was still flawless from Beijing’s perspective, so he could suffer no consequences.
Among those who expressed support for Lu was Hu Xijin, a former editor of the Chinese nationalist tabloid The Global Times and a strong supporter of a more assertive China.
He said Western media’s labeling of Lu as a “wolf warrior” was “offensive”. After all, Hu said, Lu’s manners during the interview had been “very polite.”
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