China’s March summit with the EU to be postponed because of coronavirus, sources say
- Move will frustrate European efforts to persuade Beijing to change its rules on trade and intellectual property
- ‘China has been paralysed. Everything is complicated by the coronavirus,’ EU official says
China had not revealed a date for the meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and the new European Commission (EC) and European Council presidents, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, but EU diplomats said March 30 and 31 was agreed.
“The summit is set to be postponed, but not cancelled,” one senior EU diplomat said, echoing information from other diplomats and officials who tried to prepare the meeting.
The Chinese foreign ministry did not comment on the matter.
Postponement would rob the EU of a chance to push Beijing into making good on its promise of April last year to give European companies equal treatment in China and put an end to a practice of forcing foreign companies to share sensitive data when operating in China.
While the coronavirus pandemic appeared to have passed its peak in China, a series of preparatory meetings in Beijing and visits to Brussels by senior Chinese officials, including leading trade negotiator Vice-Premier Liu He, have all been cancelled in recent weeks as a result of the health crisis.
