China making it ‘very difficult’ for EU to deepen ties: ambassador Jorge Toledo

EU-China ties now ‘more intense’, Brussels’ envoy tells Beijing forum, as Chinese diplomat calls for greater trust to ensure stable cooperation

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Jorge Toledo, ambassador of the European Union to China, says people-to-people exchanges are “very far” off from pre-pandemic levels. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:00pm, 7 Jul 2024

A senior EU diplomat has accused China of making it “very difficult” for the European Union to deepen its exchanges with Beijing, adding that China’s image in Europe had suffered from its actions relating to the Ukraine war.

Speaking at a forum in Beijing on Sunday, EU ambassador Jorge Toledo noted that people-to-people exchanges between China and the bloc had not recovered since the pandemic. Rather, they were “very far” off from pre-pandemic levels, he said, echoing sentiments earlier shared by Nicholas Burns, the US envoy to China.

Burns last month said China had made people-to-people exchanges “impossible”, including by preventing Chinese nationals from taking part in American government programmes.

According to Burns, Chinese officials had interfered in 61 public events organised by the US embassy in Beijing since November.

“This is also our experience,” Toledo told a panel at the World Peace Forum organised by Tsinghua University.

“We thought when the Covid restrictions were over, we will be able to meet Chinese professors freely again, Chinese students freely again, Chinese think tanks freely again.

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