PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the Chinese ambassador because of repeated insults and threats directed at French lawmakers and a researcher, and Beijing’s decision to punish officials across the European Union.
“The words of the Chinese embassy in France and the actions against European elected officials, researchers and diplomats are unacceptable,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian wrote on Twitter on Monday. “I requested that the Chinese ambassador be summoned to firmly remind him of these messages.”
The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials on Monday for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, in the first coordinated Western action against Beijing under the new US president, Joe Biden.
China’s ambassador, Lu Shaye, had already been summoned by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs last April, through messages and tweets from the embassy defending Beijing’s response to the pandemic and criticizing the way the West dealt with the outbreak.
The embassy wrote in a tweet that the ambassador would go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday to discuss EU sanctions and issues related to Taiwan.
His embassy warned last week against French lawmakers who met with officials during a self-managed visit to Taiwan, attracting a rejection from France.
Since then, he has been on a Twitter clash with Antoine Bondaz, a China expert at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research, in which the embassy described him as a “small thug”.
Earlier on Monday, the embassy said the EU sanctions were based on lies and misinformation, which was interference in China’s internal affairs.
France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would also call on the ambassador to protest the decision by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to punish several European citizens, including French parliamentarian Raphaël Glucksmann.
“It is not by attacking academic freedom, freedom of expression and fundamental democratic freedoms that China will respond to the legitimate concerns of the European Union, nor will it promote dialogue with the 27 EU countries,” said ministry spokesman Agnes von der Muhll told reporters at a daily briefing.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Giles Elgood and Jonathan Oatis)