In a statement issued on Friday 8 May, the EU Ambassador to China, Nicolas Chapuis, justified the publication a few days previously of an editorial he had co-written with the Member States' ambassadors to China, even though it had been changed in China Daily and not published by People's Daily, contrary to what had been planned.
The phrase in this 'op-ed “But the outbreak of the coronavirus in China, and its subsequent spread to the rest of the world over the past three months, has meant that our pre-existing plans have been temporarily side-tracked as both the EU and China are fully mobilised to tackle what has now become a challenge of truly global proportions” was therefore stopped at the part reading “in China, and its subsequent spread to the rest of the world in the last three months”.
“The EU Delegation was informed by the media in question that the publication of the Op-Ed would only be allowed by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the condition that a part of a sentence related to the origins and spread of the coronavirus was removed”, explained the EU Ambassador.
And while the delegation “made known its objections to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in no uncertain terms”, it decided to authorise the publication of the censored version. “Even without this phrase, the Op-Ed passed key messages on a number of our priority areas to a potential audience of more than 1 billion readers”, Chapuis said. It took the decision to proceed with the publication of an amended editorial without consulting the European External Action Service (EEAS) or the ambassadors of the Member States, even though they were co-authors. The latter were warned after the fact.
“This decision was taken under pressure of time and was not the right one”, said EEAS spokesperson Virginie Battu.
Asked about possible sanctions against the Ambassador, she merely noted that this was his 6th posting to China, that he was an expert and a “real asset” for the EEAS.
The entire editorial was published in other Chinese media, on social networks and on the websites of the EU Delegation and several embassies.
Read the editorial: https://bit.ly/35PBVUg (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)