EU locks horns with China’s envoy on Ukraine, as schisms on war remain
- Sources from the European side say that in meetings Li Hui, China’s special envoy, merely repeats a ‘full dose of Moscow’s talking points’
- China’s foreign ministry says the diplomat is touring Europe to ‘mediate and build consensus’ on how to end the war, now in its third year
European Union officials have clashed with the Chinese special envoy for Ukraine during talks in Brussels, indicating a wide gulf remains between the two sides about the war, now in its third year.
In a series of meetings on Monday and Tuesday, EU representatives were treated to a “full dose of Moscow’s talking points” from Li Hui, Beijing’s special envoy to Eurasia, according to several people familiar with the talks.
Li, who landed in the Belgian capital direct from Russia on Monday, will travel to Warsaw and then Kyiv, where sources said he is expected on Thursday. He is then scheduled to loop back to Paris and Berlin afterwards.
The Chinese diplomat’s mission, according to his ministry, is to “mediate and build consensus” on a war which is estimated to have cost hundreds of thousands of lives since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. China claims to be neutral in the conflict, but is seen by the US and its European allies to have sided with Russia.
Over a long dinner meeting on Monday night followed by discussions on Tuesday, these suspicions were, in the minds of multiple EU sources, confirmed.