Chinese Ambassador to European Union Fu Chong said that the president of the European Committee Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel can visit China in the first half of 2023, according to the Chinese newspaper Global Times.

Preparations for the visit of two top EU officials. “very frequent high-level reciprocal visits” between the EU and China are expected to start soon, Fu said in an interview published last Friday.

The parties disagree on the war in Ukraine, EU diplomats said. criticize China’s refusal to call the conflict an invasion or call for Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine.

“The EU reaction is very absurd. for Ukraine”

Fu said in an interview that the EU’s angry reactions to China over Ukraine are “very absurd” and that China does not want the issue to affect relations with the European bloc.

After China’s foreign ministry released a text on Friday showing the country’s position on the war, Jorge Toledo, chief EU diplomat in China, told reporters in Beijing that parts of the document were troubling.

“There is no mention of an attacker, which is strange because it is obvious that there is an attacker and someone is being attacked. This is illegal and unprovoked. It’s a little worrying,” Toledo said.

Fu said in December that the war had placed China in a very difficult position in terms of its relations with the EU, after Michel, during a visit to Beijing in early December, urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to use the country’s influence with Russia regarding the war in Ukraine.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}