Opinion | Europe continues to welcome Chinese investment in its ports, despite US concerns about Beijing’s global maritime ambitions

The hard reality for Trump is that Chinese businesses are modernising European port infrastructure and creating jobs as part of belt and road integration. Many in Europe see US fears about the Chinese navy gaining greater strategic access as overblown

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The Italian port of Genoa (above) has signed a cooperation agreement with the Chinese port of Shenzhen. Europe’s progressive integration into China’s belt and road plan has alarmed Washington. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 11:00pm, 20 Jun 2019Updated: 2:55am, 21 Jun 2019

The United States is becoming increasingly obsessed with Chinese activities in commercial seaports of allied countries because of the risk they would pose to its navy. Nonetheless, calls for European allies to avoid backing China’s global maritime ambitions and the Belt and Road Initiative continue to fall on deaf ears.

At last week’s Transport Logistic fair in Munich, the Italian port of Genoa signed a cooperation agreement with the Chinese port of Shenzhen, the world’s fourth-largest container facility.

Together, China’s Cosco Shipping Ports and Qingdao Port International Development have a 49.9 per cent stake in two terminals in Genoa. Other European operators are also engaging with Chinese counterparts.

Europe’s progressive integration into the belt and road plan, which is aimed at reviving the ancient Silk Road and creating a China-centric network of trade relationships across Eurasia and beyond, has alarmed the administration of US President Donald Trump.

In its annual report to Congress on China’s military power, released last month, the US Department of Defence said the belt and road investments could help the Chinese navy gain access to “selected foreign ports to pre-position the necessary logistics support to sustain naval deployments in waters as distant as the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean”.

To US strategists, China is seeking control of overseas infrastructure to project and support naval power at greater distances. The Chinese could achieve such a goal by gaining preferred access to foreign commercial ports through belt and road projects, as well as through some exclusive logistics facilities.

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