Follow the New Silk Road

China’s growing trail of think tanks and lobbyists in Europe

China is flexing its soft power in Europe, cultivating networks of think tanks and lobbyists, in particular to promote its flagship programme the ‘New Silk Road’. Meanwhile, European failures in lobby transparency mean these influencing activities take place far beyond the light of public scrutiny.

 
1. Introduction

On 9 April 2019 Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk for an EU-China summit. On the agenda are topics such as bilateral trade and investment relations, as well as cybersecurity.

As China becomes an ever more potent player on the world stage, it is increasing its use of soft power and influencing tools in Europe. From funding think tanks and academic institutions, to courting officials via paid public affairs consultants and business associations, its lobbying seeks to create fertile ground for China-friendly policies.

While there is nothing surprising about a global player with the second largest GDP in the world flexing its soft power, what is rather alarming is the way that so many think tank players, policy wonks, lobby consultants, and middlemen in Europe have been all too keen to play the role of hired gun for what is a highly authoritarian regime. Presumably China’s growing wealth – and willingness to spend it to achieve its goals – makes it easier for these lobbyists to ignore this inconvenient fact. European tech lobbyists, for example, are happily working for a country ranked last in the world, for the fourth consecutive year, in internet freedom. Far from liberalising as it became more of a market economy (as some in the West futilely predicted), China has become more authoritarian and intolerant of dissent under Chinese President Xi Jinping. For example, over one million Uighurs, Kazakhs, Hui, and other ethnic minorities are now estimated by the UN to be held in detention camps in Xinjiang, Western China. Some of the unquestionably state of the art information technology developed by China is being used to put them there.

Περισσότερα εδώ: Follow the New Silk Road

Πηγή: corporateeurope.org