Exclusive | Chinese ambassador admits Russian invasion of Ukraine has hurt relations with EU

Fu Cong, new envoy to EU, says Ukraine invasion has put Beijing ‘in a very difficult position’ because it does not want ‘to choose between friends’ Moscow and Kyiv

In interview, Fu calls China ‘collateral damage’ from the war, says US is ‘profiting from this crisis’ and suggests Brussels and Beijing end sanctions imposed on each other

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Fu Cong, the newly appointed Chinese ambassador to the European Union, says the Ukrainian crisis is becoming a problem for China’s relations with the EU. Photo: SCMP

Published: 11:00pm, 23 Dec 2022Updated: 7:53am, 24 Dec 2022

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put China “in a very difficult position”, with Beijing not wanting “to choose between friends”, the new Chinese envoy in Brussels said on Thursday in an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post.

In his first in-person interview since becoming the Chinese ambassador to the European Union this month, Fu Cong acknowledged that the “Ukrainian crisis is becoming a problem for our bilateral relations with the EU”, even if Beijing doesn’t believe “it should be an issue or much less a problem”.

The China-EU relationship became defined in 2022 by China’s ties to Russia and Beijing’s refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine. Image: Shutterstock

Fu filled a position that had been vacant for a year – a period during which bilateral ties became dominated by the Russian aggression and China’s close ties with Moscow. European leaders have insisted that China condemn Russia’s invasion and that it use its influence to help end the war.

Fu – who referred to the conflict as a “so-called special operation” because “this is what the Russians have called it” – said one of his priorities in his new role was to “depoliticise” EU-China relations. He reminded Europeans that China had called for a peaceful resolution since February 25, a day after the invasion was launched.

“On the second day after the start of that operation, there was an important phone conversation between Chinese President Xi and President Putin and during that conversation, President Xi clearly advocated trying to seek a peaceful solution. So people tend to forget that,” Fu said.

Ukrainian firefighters work to extinguish a blaze at the scene of a Russian shelling in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, on November 23. The conflict passed its 300th day this week. Photo: AP

He insisted that China was not benefiting from the war, nor had it any interest in prolonging the conflict.