How China lost the hearts and minds of Central and Eastern Europe

Tacit support for Russia's invasion the latest blow in a decadelong decline

Andreea Brinza

May 31, 2022 17:00 JST

China's Premier Li Keqiang attends the 4th meeting of China and Central and Eastern European Countries in Suzhou, China, in November 2015: Today, China is in a worse position. © Reuters

Andreea Brinza is vice president of the Romanian Institute for the Study of the Asia-Pacific (RISAP).

Instead of celebrating 10 years of Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries, known as 16+1, in April 2022, China desperately dispatched its special representative for the forum on an eight-country tour to salvage a relationship worsened by the war in Ukraine.