Exclusive | EU includes companies linked to Beijing on board of Global Gateway, its alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative
- EU, which hopes to ‘de-risk’ from China, has launched infrastructure project as alternative to Belt and Road Initiative
- But project’s advisers include EDP of Portugal, whose largest shareholder is China Three Gorges, a state-owned enterprise
Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed a group of businesses that had been enlisted to help the bloc’s flagship infrastructure programme, the Global Gateway.
The new business advisory board would “help us to work closer together and deliver faster on the green and digital transitions, boosting the economy of our partners and the EU”, von der Leyen said.
But close inspection of the list of board members reveals that the EU has invited Chinese state-linked companies to advise it on how best to roll out Global Gateway – despite the EU’s efforts to restrict Beijing’s access to such projects.
One company in particular is potentially embarrassing for von der Leyen, who has called for Europe to “de-risk” its ties with China.
China Three Gorges (CTG), a state-owned enterprise, is the largest shareholder in Energias de Portugal SA (EDP) – which is among those companies that will advise the European Commission on “implementation of the Global Gateway strategy and scaling up of Global Gateway flagship” projects.