With a more nuanced response to China's global connectivity (slide no. 66-69), Europe seems doubling down on its Belt and Road Initiative, according to independent journalist Emanuele Scimia in the South China Morning Post of 20 June, 2019.
Much-needed infrastructural investments including ports and other logistics linking to the world's largest trading nation are seen by smaller and larger European countries alike as hugely beneficial. While many of America's concerns are shared, such as lack of corporate governance, debt burden and impact on the environment, the rhetoric about a geopolitical plot behind the Initiative is generally regarded as overblown.
China's various state-owned entities have taken substantial equity stakes in some European ports e.g. 51% in Port Piraeus, 49.9% in two terminals in Genoa and 35% in Rotterdam. According to the article, new cooperation agreements or letters of intent are now being signed with a string of European countries including Italy (Trieste), Netherlands (Rotterdam), Belgium, Spain, France, and Malta. Even Norway's Arctic city of Kirkenes is building a new sea port to connect to China's "Polar Silk Road".
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