France's foreign ministry on Monday condemned "unacceptable comments" from the Chinese ambassador in Paris in recent days, including "insults and threats toward lawmakers and a French researcher."

In a statement, the ministry also denounced the sanctions imposed by China against ten Europeans, including five EU Parliament members, in response to Western sanctions against Chinese officials over alleged rights violations against the country's Uighur minority.

The ambassador, Lu Shaye, will be summoned to the ministry over his recent comments, it added.

Lu, an envoy known for his aggressive and outspoken comments on the embassy's Twitter account, has targeted several people recently including Antoine Bondaz, a China specialist at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) think-tank.

Starting on Friday, he derided Bondaz as a "small-time hoodlum," a "crazed hyena" and "ideological troll" with "anti-Chinese" stances after he complained about Chinese pressure on French lawmakers hoping to visit Taiwan.

The foreign ministry said it would remind Lu of "the elementary rules as set out by the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations... the embassy is requested to conform strictly with them."

China embassy sparks France spat with 'thug' rant
Paris (AFP) March 22, 2021 - The Chinese embassy in Paris has branded a French researcher critical of its Taiwan policy a "little thug" and a "troll", the mission's latest salvo to spark outrage.

Antoine Bondaz, who works at the Foundation for Strategic Research, has been engaged in a war of words with the embassy over its attempts to dissuade French MPs from visiting Taiwan.

On Friday, the embassy called China expert Bondaz a "little thug", prompting a flurry of criticism from other researchers and MPs.

On Sunday, the embassy doubled down, tweeting that those who "portray themselves as researchers and members of the media and who furiously attack China" were "crazy hyenas".

"There are people who want to see Chinese diplomacy become 'lamb-like', unflinching in the face of attack. That period is well and truly over," the embassy wrote.

China's ambassador to France Lu Shaye has frequently made headlines for his tirades against those who criticise Beijing.

In January 2019, he accused Canada of "white supremacy" for calling for the release of two Canadians detained in China, days after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada at the request of the US.

Later that year he moved to France, where he lashed out at the government and the wider European Union over their criticism of Beijing's clampdown on protesters in Hong Kong, accusing them of "hypocrisy".

The latest spat was sparked by the announcement by a group of French senators that they planned to visit Taiwan.

The Chinese embassy in a letter to one of the senators, Alain Richard, said it was "firmly opposed" to the visit which would "clearly violate the one-China policy and send the wrong signal to 'Taiwanese pro-independence forces'."

The French foreign ministry defended the senators, declaring that "French MPs freely decide about their trips and contacts".

It is not the first time that China has reacted furiously to a visit by foreign dignitaries to Taiwan, which Beijing views as part of Chinese territory.

In 2020, Beijing called a visit to Taiwan by the president of the Czech Senate, Milos Vystrcil, a "provocation" and vowed he would "pay the price".

French MEP Raphael Glucksmann on Monday urged President Emmanuel Macron's government to "react swiftly and strongly" to the attack on Bondaz.

"France is not a doormat," wrote Glucksmann, who has nearly 250,000 Twitter followers.

Bondaz accused the embassy of an "unjustified" attack and said it showed "a complete sense of impunity on the part of the embassy".

Dutch summon Chinese ambassador after MP sanctioned
The Hague (AFP) March 22, 2021 - The Dutch government summoned the Chinese ambassador after a lawmaker was among 10 Europeans sanctioned by Beijing in a row with the EU over the Uighur crackdown, the foreign ministry said Monday.

The MP targeted by the Chinese measures, Sjoerd Sjoerdsma of the centre-left D66 party, said Beijing's reaction showed it was vulnerable to pressure over what he called "genocide" in Xinjiang province.

"The ambassador has been summoned by the Dutch government over the listing of Sjoerd Sjoerdsma by China," a Dutch foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok was due to say more after a meeting with his counterparts in Brussels where the EU agreed on sanctions against China earlier Monday, the spokesperson said.

The EU imposed sanctions against four Chinese officials over the crackdown on the Uighur people in China's western Xinjiang region.

China swiftly responded to the EU measures with sanctions against 10 individuals including five European Parliament members, politicians and scholars, and four entities.

"As long as China commits genocide on the Uighurs, I will not remain silent," Sjoerdsma said on Twitter.

"These sanctions are proof that China is susceptible to outside pressure. I hope my European colleagues will seize this moment to speak out as well."

China sanctions 10 Europeans including parliamentarians: ministry
Beijing (AFP) March 22, 2021 - China on Monday announced sanctions on 10 Europeans including politicians and scholars, as well as four entities, in retaliation against the EU's approval of measures over Beijing's crackdown on the Uighur minority.

"This move, based on nothing but lies and disinformation, disregards and distorts facts," said China's foreign ministry in a statement, adding that it was a gross interference in its internal affairs.

The 10 individuals include Reinhard Butikofer, head of the European parliament's delegation on China, and German researcher Adrian Zenz, whose reports on the treatment of Uighurs in China's western Xinjiang region has drawn fiery rebukes from Beijing.

Rights groups believe at least one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in camps in the northwestern region, where China is also accused of forcibly sterilising women and imposing forced labour.

The EU's 27 nations are due to place four Chinese officials and one state-run entity on a blacklist over China's crackdown on the Uighur minority after ambassadors gave the go-ahead last week.

On Monday, China's foreign ministry said the country "firmly opposes and strongly condemns" the EU's sanctions, adding that its countermeasures would hit the European individuals and their families, prohibiting them from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao.

"They and companies and institutions associated with them are also restricted from doing business with China," the ministry added.

The four entities include the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union, as well as the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament.

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