China’s March summit with the EU to be postponed because of coronavirus, sources say

Move will frustrate European efforts to persuade Beijing to change its rules on trade and intellectual property

‘China has been paralysed. Everything is complicated by the coronavirus,’ EU official says

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Sources within the EU say the bloc’s March summit with China is set to be postponed as the coronavirus outbreak grips the globe. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 10:13pm, 12 Mar 2020Updated: 3:45am, 13 Mar 2020

A summit planned for the end of the month in Beijing between China and the European Union will be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, two EU officials and two diplomats said.

China had not revealed a date for the meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and the new European Commission (EC) and European Council presidents, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, but EU diplomats said March 30 and 31 was agreed.

“The summit is set to be postponed, but not cancelled,” one senior EU diplomat said, echoing information from other diplomats and officials who tried to prepare the meeting.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not comment on the matter.

Postponement would rob the EU of a chance to push Beijing into making good on its promise of April last year to give European companies equal treatment in China and put an end to a practice of forcing foreign companies to share sensitive data when operating in China.

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