The Chinese Ambassador to the EU said on Friday 24 April that the coronavirus pandemic could be an opportunity to develop EU-China relations.
"The EU and China should be partners, not rivals. The pandemic could be an opportunity to explore new areas of cooperation", the ambassador highlighted during a virtual discussion organised by Friends of Europe.
More generally, he called for international cooperation and multilateralism. "China, together with the EU and other major economies have a joint responsibility to help the global economy keep in shape and to reduce the impact on the global trade and supply chains", he added, promising that Beijing would do its part.
According to Zhang Ming, the fight against COVID-19 is a "human tragedy" and not "a playground for politics. It's better to forget about politics right now", he added.
The ambassador dismissed accusations of disinformation towards his country. "Disinformation is an enemy to us all", he said. And while criticism is growing about the over-mediatisation of Chinese aid to the EU, the ambassador replied that European aid to China had been widely covered by the Chinese media. "Nobody said that European aid was politics", he stressed. According to him, Chinese aid is a gesture of "solidarity", not "a political calculation".
While the G20 decided to suspend the repayment of the debt of the poorest countries (see EUROPE 12467/20), the ambassador specified that China was ready to help countries in difficulty. "We are close to African countries like the EU is close to Africa", he explained. The Chinese representative said that his country was in "close contact" with African countries to help them deal with the COVID-19 crisis and their "poor economic conditions". Faced with Europeans' mistrust of China's policy towards Africa, Zhang Ming stressed that the EU was doing the same thing as China: helping these countries. "This is not a political game", he warned.
Asked about economic relations between the EU and China, the Ambassador explained that although the coronavirus had affected the original timetable, it had not paralysed communication between the two sides. A new round of negotiations - the 28th - towards a comprehensive investment agreement took place via videoconference ending April 24 and made progress, according to the ambassador. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Hermine Donceel)