Correspondence seen by BuzzFeed News shows members states were not consulted. One European diplomat described the EU decision as 'weak'.
The European Union failed to consult with member states before agreeing to demands from China’s foreign ministry to remove references to the spread offrom an opinion piece the 27 governments jointly published in a news outlet owned by the Communist Party of China, according to correspondence seen by BuzzFeed News.
One of the diplomats said there had been no discussion about the piece in capitals, nor among diplomatic missions in Brussels. They noted the irony of the incident happening just a few days after World Press Freedom Day on Sunday. Publication of the article was coordinated by the European External Action Service , the EU’s foreign security policy agency, in Beijing.
An EU spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy later confirmed that the article had been changed following demands by the Chinese government.
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