China's ambassador to the European Union Fu Cong said that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel may visit China in the first half of 2023, the Global Times reported.

Preparations for the visit of the two top EU officials are well underway, and very frequent high-level reciprocal visits between the EU and China are expected to start soon, Fu told Chinese media. 

EU diplomats have criticized China's refusal to call the conflict in Ukraine an invasion or to call for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.

Fu said in the interview that the EU's anger toward China over Ukraine is "very irrational" and that China does not want the issue to affect the development of ties with the bloc.

After China's foreign ministry released a document Friday outlining its position on the war, Jorge Toledo, the EU's top diplomat in China, told reporters in Beijing that some parts of the document were troubling.

In December, Fu said the war had put China in a very difficult position with the EU, after Michel, during a visit to Beijing in early December, called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to use the country's influence over Russia over the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.