It’s complicated: China-Europe relations hit by diversity, distrust and dogmatism during pandemic

European nations are divided over how best to deal with Beijing, which looms larger in their policy and public debates

Think tanks came together and reported on China’s much-touted medical aid and ‘mask diplomacy’ during Covid-19 crisis

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European nations are looking to be more cohesive in their approach towards relations with China. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:30pm, 30 Apr 2020Updated: 11:08pm, 30 Apr 2020

As Beijing steps up its pressure campaign on Europe in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, their relations look set to become more diverse and contested amid growing distrust and wariness of China’s expanding influence, according to new research.

The study, based on analysis of China’s role in 19 European countries’ handling of the coronavirus crisis, showed that Europe remained largely divided over how to deal with Beijing, which has figured ever more prominently in policy and public debates in many parts of the continent.

A total of 28 experts from 21 think tanks across the continent, collectively known as the European Think-tank Network on China, were involved in the research.

It came on the heels of a diplomatic debacle in the past week that saw the European Union reportedly bowing to pressure by China. The EU reportedly toned down part of a report documenting Beijing’s disinformation efforts to deflect the blame and rewrite the global coronavirus narrative.

Although a spokesperson for the EU denied those allegations, the saga has “moreover revealed the pressures that China has placed on European Union officials during the crisis”, according to John Seaman, editor of the report and a research fellow at the French Institute of International Relations.

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