China postpones visit of EU diplomat Borrell

CHINA has informed the EU Foreign Service that it is no longer possible to carry out the visit of the HEAD of European diplomacy Borrell on July 10, REUTERS reports . The EU said the need to find alternative dates Josep Borrell

China has postponed a planned visit by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Reuters reported, citing a written statement by EU foreign policy spokeswoman Nabila Massrali.

“Unfortunately, our Chinese colleagues have informed us that it is no longer possible [to make a visit on] the scheduled dates next week,” the document says.

According to Massrali, the EU now needs to "find alternative [dates]." The reasons for the postponement of Borrell's visit are not reported.

Borrell was scheduled to visit Beijing on July 10 to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. During the meeting, they were supposed to discuss "strategic issues", including human rights and the situation in Ukraine , the agency reported, citing the EU ambassador in Beijing.

At the same time, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that she had no information about Borrell's visit.

The head of European diplomacy was to visit China on April 13-15 to discuss with Beijing bilateral relations between the EU and China, as well as current foreign policy issues. Nevertheless, on 12 April, he revealed that he had to postpone his trip due to testing positive for covid-19 .

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Then Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that Beijing was sympathetic to the postponement of Borrell's visit and invited the official to visit the country at a convenient time for both sides.

At the end of June, the EU leadership asked China to use its influence to bring the end of the conflict in Ukraine closer, as well as to balance trade relations with the EU.

A month ago, the G7 countries ( usa , CANADA , Germany , UK , France , Japan ) called on China to put pressure on Russia to "completely and unconditionally" withdraw troops from Ukraine. Western countries invited Beijing to support "a comprehensive, just and lasting peace."

In May, Borrell argued that a Russian defeat in Ukraine would not change China's trajectory and that Beijing would benefit geopolitically from it. With this in mind, he called for the formation of a unified strategy for relations with China. 

China has repeatedly urged not to interfere in relations between Beijing and Moscow. Wang Wenbin noted that "China has always taken a fair and objective position on Ukraine" and promoted the idea of ​​peace negotiations, which "is in sharp contrast to the practice of a number of countries that apply double standards and continue to add fuel to the fire."

China, after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, did not join the international sanctions against Russia. Russia , due to European restrictions, redirected oil supplies abroad, becoming the leader in exports to China.

At the same time, Beijing did not support the annexation of Crimea, Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Russia.