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Alex Lo
SCMP Columnist
My Take
by Alex Lo
My Take
by Alex Lo

Brexit helps tilt Portugal towards China

  • Beijing needs all the friends it can get within the European Union in the face of professed Western unity

One of the consequences of Brexit has been to disrupt Britain’s ties with Portugal, often described as the world’s oldest allies. The history is fascinating; Charles II’s Portuguese wife introduced the English to drinking tea as a fashion statement. But its immediate significance today may be to tilt another European Union member state towards China.

Portugal and China’s respective ambassadors, Jose Augusto Duarte and Zhao Bentang, were sharing a bit of bromance this week in a webinar to promote the upcoming China International Import Expo.

This came after Pedro Siza Vieira, the former deputy prime minister and minister of the economy – whose tenure finished at the end of March – complained about the damage caused by Brexit to bilateral relations. “Brexit has had an adverse impact,” he told the British press.

“For Portugal, Brexit was not good news. The UK is one of our main trading partners, one of the main investment partners.”

Last year, the value of British exports to Portugal dropped by 56 per cent, compared with a fall of 10.3 per cent from across the other 26 EU member countries. While Portugal’s sales to the EU rose by 1.3 per cent, those to Britain fell by more than 15 per cent.

Siza Vieira continued: “We are an Atlantic country, not a continental country. It is a basic part of our identity and foreign policy to have a close relationship with the UK and US. So [Brexit] is complicated for us. This is not something we were happy with.”

For superpowers, allies can be worse than enemies

Britain and Portugal’s relations date back to two treaties signed in the 14th century and an economic pact in the 18th, which was to make sure Portuguese wines cost less than French ones.

Meanwhile, Portugal is rhapsodising over its growing relations with Beijing. “China is always ready to listen and help Portugal, even in this difficult world context,” Duarte said.

By itself, Portugal is not all that significant to Beijing. But as France and Germany turn more hardline and China’s multi-year diplomatic push in central Europe has stalled, having friends such as Portugal, Italy, Greece and Hungary – where China-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Orban has scored a landslide re-election – may prove to be crucial.

And while Poland has not been exactly friendly to China, it has become a very troublesome member of the EU.

All those claims about Western or European unity – against Moscow – do not look all that solid, from the Chinese standpoint.

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