Commission blames China for press gag in EU capital - Montesquieu Institute

BRUSSELS - The European Commission has indicated that China blocked media from speaking to vice premier Li Keqiang during his two-day-long visit to the EU capital.

Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde on Wednesday (2 May) told reporters they can take photos of him at three separate press events on Wednesday and Thursday but they will not be able to ask him questions at any point.

"What can I say? It takes two to tango and this is what we have been able to arrange ... If you have any questions about other media arrangements you should rather ask our Chinese partners. So I'll leave it at that," she added, on whether the press gag was a Chinese idea or an EU one.

Wang Xining, the spokesman of the Chinese embassy to the EU, told EUobserver the decision is down to protocol "customs" and that he is "frustrated" by people who see it as something more.

"It is interpreted as if we are trying to avoid something ... or repressing freedom of speech. I don't complain. I know what people are thinking. But I feel frustrated because this is just a protocol arrangement. For Europeans, when people meet at this level there must be a press conference. But in our custom, we receive many presidents and prime ministers [in China]. Sometimes there is a press conference, sometimes not," he said.

Li's trip to Brussels coincides with breaking news on an east-west diplomatic crisis in which a Chinese activist - Chen Guangcheng - fled house arrest and was sheltered by the US embassy in Beijing.

It also coincides with a scandal in China's ruling clique ahead of its once-in-a-decade handover of power next year: Bo Xilai - seen by some as a contender to be China's next leader - was last month kicked out of the Communist Party's politburo and investigated over a gangland murder, leaving Li as the top candidate.

Noting that she will email press a memo on Li's visit, as well as the texts of three joint declarations on energy and "sustainable urbanisation," the commission's Ahrenkilde said "this will enable you to cover the story."

When another politburo member, Liu Yandong, visited Brussels two weeks ago, the commission said there was no time for a press briefing for "logistical reasons."

In events which one EU official at the time called "embarassing," EU institutions in November 2010 blocked government-critical Chinese journalists from attending a press conference with Chinese VIPs for "security" reasons. They let them in when other Brussels-based reporters complained. But they cancelled the press conference at China's request.

Ahrenkilde on Wednesday said she thinks "it is likely" that EU leaders will ask Li about Chen but that she "cannot confirm" it. She added that Li's decision to avoid press questions "is not linked" to the 2010 incident.

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