The Chinese Embassy in France explained on Monday that Ambassador Lu Shaye expressed his own views on the situation in eastern Europe in a recent interview that sparked outrage across the continent.
Lu's comments "should not be subject to over-interpretation" as China "respects the status of sovereign countries" of former Soviet Union republics, the embassy specified.
The foreign ministry in Beijing has seemingly already distanced itself from the remarks by the ambassador, who allegedly questioned the sovereignty of the countries that emerged from the Soviet Union's collapse.
