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Exclusive | China sends special envoy to Brussels in bid to salvage souring ties with EU
- Wu Hongbo’s visit follows last month’s virtual summit where Beijing’s stance on Ukraine and alleged coercion of Lithuania emerged as major sources of tension
- Brussels remains concerned about human rights, particularly in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and recently moved to enhance ties with Japan and Taiwan
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Finbarr Berminghamin Brussels
China is dispatching a senior envoy to Brussels next week, as it looks to shore up its troubled ties with the European Union.
Wu Hongbo, Beijing’s special representative for Europe, will meet officials to discuss the fallout from last month’s virtual EU-China summit, a Brussels source said.
“He will have meetings in the European External Action Service on the EU-China relationship, post-summit,” the source said, referring to the EU’s foreign policy arm.
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The April 1 summit was seen as an eye-opener for European leaders, who were surprised by the force of what they saw as Beijing’s intransigence over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an issue that has further soured relations between the two sides.
Nor was Beijing open to discussing its alleged economic coercion of Lithuania over its relations with Taiwan, EU officials said.
02:20
Heightened tensions in Taiwan amid Russian invasion of Ukraine
Heightened tensions in Taiwan amid Russian invasion of Ukraine
In the days following, foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell described the summit as “a dialogue of the deaf”.
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