The foreign ministry in Beijing has censored a letter penned by European Union ambassadors before its publication in a Chinese newspaper, removing a reference to China as the site of the first COVID-19 outbreak.
"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," the removed passage said.
"We regret that this joint op-ed was not published in full," EU foreign affairs spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson said on Thursday in Brussels.
EU officials defended the decision to accept the censorship, stressing that a refusal would have meant not communicating important messages on issues like climate change and human rights to the readers of the English-language China Daily newspaper.
The published article removed a passage suggesting the coronavirus pandemic originated in China. Source: AP
"China has state-controlled media. There is censorship, that's a fact," Ms Battu-Henriksson said.
The European Union External Action Service confirmed that changes were made following media reports on Wednesday.
The revelation comes just a week after EU officials were criticised for allegedly toning down references to China in a report on disinformation linked to COVID-19 under pressure from authorities in Beijing.
German politician Norbert Roettgen said he was "shocked" that the EU delegation to Beijing had allowed the censorship to go ahead.
"Speaking with one voice is important, but it has to reflect our shared European values and interests," he tweeted on Thursday.
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