[You need to register -it’s free- for reading the linked article or you can use the link in 12ft.io.]
Concerns about China’s government gaining insight into the operations of foreign governments, segments of the economy, or citizens have been sufficient to cause the US House of Representatives to pass legislation requiring the sale of a social media platform or face a ban from US app stores. And a few experts have warned the European Commission of the risks entailed by Chinese state-owned companies owning infrastructure in the 27 member states. But oversight mechanisms the EU has put in place to guard against outside influence have not been enough to keep China’s Cosco and CMG out of major European ports.
When Jacob Gunter, an economic analyst at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics) heard about the 67 per cent controlling stake Cosco had managed to amass in Piraeus by late 2021, it set alarm bells ringing. “It seems bizarre to me that Cosco has managed to take complete control of a strategically located European port,” Gunter said. “Being dependent on a foreign power is always risky – we learned that after the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” when Moscow threatened to cut off its outsize share of the European energy supply in response to sanctions.
Shanghai-based Cosco owns 496 container ships and has 17,000 employees worldwide (including subsidiaries), which makes the state-owned company the fourth largest shipping company after Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A (Switzerland), A.P. Møller-Maersk A/S (Denmark) and CMA CGM (France).
Together with the Vienna Institute for International Economics, Merics was commissioned by the European Parliament to analyse Cosco and CMG’s acquisition strategies for critical infrastructure in Europe. Gunter found that state-owned companies’ interest in the Union is not limited to Greece. The 2023 report he co-authored determined that Cosco and CMG together have invested more than 9 billion euros just in the maritime infrastructure of member states, including the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, and Greece.
China’s stake in the Hamburg port was criticized also within Germany. The reason why China got “only” a minority stake (they aimed at a majority) likely was that at least 6 German ministers opposed the deal that has been favored by German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
I am not aware that Germany was accused by anyone outside for the deal, but even then I wouldn’t point such critics specifically to the country. The study by Merics and the Vienna Institute for International Economics -two excellent organizations with very capable researchers, btw- suggests that awareness of security risks posed by China’s policies has only grown in recent years. So in the recent past, this wasn’t considered an issue.
But, again, I am not aware of critics to the Hamburg port deal from outside Germany. The warnings came from within the country. That aside, the issue is not a German one, but a European one. This is what the study also suggests, and why I think it is important.
Yeah, sure. The warnings directly from the EU and the international reporting for weeks in international media did totally not happen… stupid Germans again believing things they can see with their own eyes.
This is a European issue, the study is clear about it, even in the title. I don’t know why you turn this into a Germany-versus-the-rest-of-the-world issue.
Sorry if reality doesn’t fit yout narrative so you have to pretend I made it up…