BRUSSELS/ 13 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The office of the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, is already working with the Government of China to try to set a new date for the official visit of the former Spanish minister to the Asian giant, after it was canceled at the last minute by a coronavirus contagion.
Borrell announced on Wednesday that he would not be able to travel to China for a visit that was due to begin on Thursday and last until Saturday. “Work is underway to reschedule it,” European sources have said.
The spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, stated at a press conference that the government is confident that it will be able to receive Borrell when both parties agree and has said it “understands” the reasons for the cancellation. In this sense, he has wished a “quick recovery” to the head of European diplomacy.
This trip was part of the European efforts, after the visit last week of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and that of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, at the end of March , to review economic and diplomatic relations with Beijing, as well as its role in the face of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
Faced with the tone exhibited by the president of the European Commission, who defends a hardening of the European position before a China that seeks a change in the world order, Borrell advocates constructive relations with Beijing, which he also urges to behave as “an actor positive and constructive overall” on the war in Ukraine.
