China’s French ambassador irked the Baltic states of Lativia, Lithuania and Estonia, saying that there were questions about the former Soviet satellites’ sovereignty after the collapse of the 1991 Soviet Union. Soviet satellites were all given their independence, something voted on and accepted in the United Nations. Whatever misgivings 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin has about the independence of the Baltic States and other former soviet satellites, the Baltics react harshly because of their entrance in the European Union and NATO. China’s French Amb. Lu Shaye said the Crimea was part of Russia, something strongly disputed by Ukraine and other former Soviet satellites. Shaye pointed out that former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev transferred ownership of Crime to Ukraine in 1954 when Kiev as a Soviet satellite, not an independent state.
Shaye, whose country Communist China dispute the sovereignty of Taiwan, said that the sovereignty of former Soviet satellites was in doubt. “These ex-USSR countries don’t have actual status in international law because there is no international agreement to materialize their sovereign status,” Shaye said. France rejected Shaye’s remarks, stating that the former Soviet satellites earned their independence “after decades of oppression,” something actually irrelevant to the issue of sovereignty. Living under Soviet Rule of for over 70 years was not an excuse to win independence. When it comes to the Baltic states, they were loyal members of the Soviet Union, regardless of how European Union or NATO officials characterize Baltic independence. Once the Soviet Union disbanded Dec. 26, 1991, it was a short time before all the Baltic states declared independence. Joining the EU and NATO took years.
When it came to the Crimean Peninsula, once the Soviet Union disbanded, Crimea went with Ukraine’s declaration of independence. Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the first President of Russia, never claimed Crimea a separate province with continued Moscow sovereignty. “On Ukraine specifically, it was internationally recognized with borders including Crimea in 1991 by the entire international community, including China,” said a French Foreign Ministry spokesperson. U.S., EU and NATO officials don’t acknowledge the Feb. 22, 2024 CIA-backed, pro-Western coup that toppled the Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovych. Once Yanukovych was chased out of Kiev, Putin decided to protect his Sevastopol naval base, annexing Crimea. Without the CIA-backed coup, Crimea would still be in Ukrainian hands. Foreign backed coup d’etat has consequences.
Ukraine can’t stomach the fact that in ousting Kremlin-backed Yanukovych, it threatened Russian national security by taking control of Kiev. U.S. EU and NATO never acknowledge the Feb. 22, 2014 coup d’etat that forced Putin to annex Crimea to protect his Sevastopol naval base. China knows the history, including Khrushchev gifting Crimea to Ukraine in 1954, and speaks ambiguously about Ukraine’s sovereignty. But unlike the Taiwan situation, Ukraine’s borders were established by the United Nations after the fall of the Soviet Union. China lost control over Taiwan during the height of the Maoist Revolution in 1949. For over 70-years the U.S. backed the non-communist, Chinese nationalists led by former Chinese General Chaing Kai-shek who refused to succumb to Mao’s Communist rule. Chinese President Xi Jinping now wants to assert sovereignty over Taiwan.
Under the most hostile relations toward China and Russia in U.S. history, Biden has driven the two Communist superpowers into a strategic economic and military alliance. China agrees with Russia that the U.S. has meddled in the region, trying to stop Russian from defending its national security in Ukraine, while, at the same time, claiming Taiwan is a part of Mainland China. Biden tried, but failed, to get China to go along with Western sanctions, attempting to punish the Russian Federation economically for waging a war in Ukraine. Putin claims he invaded Ukraine for a “special military operation” designed to de-fang Ukraine from a flood of U.S. and NATO arms. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky had actively sought NATO membership, something utterly unacceptable to Putin. Yet 80-year-old President Joe Biden said Russia invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022 as a naked land grab.
EU and NATO countries have gone along with Biden’s proxy war against the Russian Federation, ending decades of détente where both nuclear-armed adversaries worked to find common ground. Instead of helping resolve the Ukraine crisis, Biden decided to arm Ukraine to fight a proxy war against the Kremlin. Biden and Zelensky believe that prolonging the conflict enables the U.S. and Ukraine to degrade the Russian military. Biden has been warned that the Ukraine War could spread to the European Continent, possibly escalate into nuclear war. Yet, instead of sitting down at the peace table, Biden continues to arm Ukraine to fight the Kremlin. Ukraine rejects Russia’s claim to even once inch of its sovereign territory. Russian controlled Donetsk, Luhansk and Crime before the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion. Zelensky now threatens to wage war to get back the Crimean Peninsula.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
