China sought to distance itself from remarks by its envoy to France questioning the independence of ex-Soviet states that sparked a firestorm in Europe and undercut French efforts to enlist Beijing’s help in pushing for peace in Ukraine. The comments by Ambassador Lu Shaye on LCI television were not a political declaration but rather “an expression of personal points of view” and shouldn’t be over-interpreted, the Chinese embassy in Paris said in a statement. Lu told the broadcaster in an interview aired on Friday that former Soviet nations don’t have sovereign status as independent countries — a statement that ignored internationally recognized borders and caused anger in Europe, especially in Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The embassy said in a statement in French on its website that China’s position hasn’t changed, adding that it’s ready to contribute to a political solution to the war in Ukraine. -------- Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Subscribe to Bloomberg Originals: https://www.youtube.com/BloombergTV Bloomberg Quicktake brings you global social video spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BloombergQuicktakeNow Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake