EU: Regrettable that China Daily removed parts of joint article by ambassadors of 27 European countries

The European Union's ambassador to China said Thursday that it is "regrettable" that China Daily deleted part of a commentary article co-signed by the ambassadors of 27 European countries before publication.

A comparison with the original article published on the EU delegation's website shows that in the opening paragraph of the article published by China Daily, the official English-language Chinese media outlet, on Tuesday, the phrase "in China, and its subsequent spread to the rest of the world over the past three months" following "But the outbreak of the coronavirus" was deleted.

Nicolas Chapuis, the EU ambassador to China, told the media: "It is regrettable that part of the sentence about the spread of the virus was edited (deleted)."

The article, titled "EU-China ties vital amid global crisis," was written to mark the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the EU and China.

Reuters reported that Chapuis declined to comment on the reason for China Daily's deletion of part of the article.

China and the United States have been trading accusations over the pandemic and the origin of the virus. China believes that although the outbreak first occurred in Wuhan, the origin of the virus is not there, but likely in the United States. The U.S., on the other hand, believes the virus originated in Wuhan, most likely leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is not far from the Huanan Seafood Market, generally considered the epicenter of the outbreak.

Source: https://www.voachinese.com/a/eu-envoy-says-removal-phrase-op-ed-in-china-newspaper-regrettable-20200507/5409985.html