4 lost years: how the EU fumbled its response to China’s belt and road with Global Gateway strategy
- Internal documents show European Commission rejected prescient 2020 proposal because it would ‘send wrong signal’ to China
- Months-long investigation reveals a bureaucracy fighting tooth and nail against EU’s signature Global Gateway strategy
But internal documents and conversations with 10 sources involved in the EU’s infrastructure discussions reveal a bureaucracy that fought tooth and nail against using connectivity as a foreign policy tool.
A months-long investigation paints an unflattering picture of European Commission infighting, turf wars and inaction that jars with the muscular rhetoric presented by its leader, Ursula von der Leyen.
Documents seen by the South China Morning Post, however, shed light on conflicting European attitudes over how best to deal with the implications of Beijing’s growing influence in the developing world.
One document in particular, dated October 2020, shows the commission spurning a concrete proposal to compete with China – in part out of fear of “sending the wrong signal” to Beijing.
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China’s Belt and Road, 10 years on