Coronavirus disrupts China’s diplomatic agenda with global meetings in doubt

Will Chinese President Xi Jinping’s year of face-to-face talks with world leaders go as planned?

Pandemic has also forced Beijing on to the defensive amid rising criticism of its handling of the outbreak

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Chinese President Xi Jinping might have to reschedule some of the face-to-face meetings he planned to have this year with other world leaders. Photo: DPA

Published: 10:00pm, 2 May 2020Updated: 11:23pm, 2 May 2020

China’s diplomatic agenda has been thrown off course by the coronavirus pandemic, threatening to disrupt a number of planned meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders.

Face-to-face talks between Xi and his foreign counterparts were a cornerstone of China’s diplomacy last year, with the Chinese leader visiting 13 countries in Europe, Asia and South America, and attending five international conventions.

A short-lived truce in the trade war was announced after Xi’s talks with US President Donald Trump in Japan in June. His visit to Europe in March included the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Italy, making it the first G7 country to officially endorse Xi’s pet trade and infrastructure development project, the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Covid-19 outbreak – first reported in December in Wuhan, capital of the central Chinese province of Hubei – is largely under control in China, as signalled by the announcement that the country’s delayed national legislative session will proceed on May 22.

But the pandemic continues to spread around the world, so far infecting more than three million people and killing more than 220,000. It has already led to the cancellation of a number of high profile meetings, including Xi’s state visit to Japan in April – which would have been the first by a Chinese president since 2008. Also in April, a visit to Beijing by 17 leaders from central and eastern Europe was postponed.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Beijing in December. Photo: Kyodo

China’s plans to make 2020 its “Year of Europe” have already been affected by the health crisis and the risks of a second wave later this year could further derail its diplomatic agenda. This includes intensive meetings with the European Union (EU) on their Comprehensive Agreement on Investment treaty, climate change and joint development in third country markets.

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