Some European lawmakers are increasingly calling for tougher regulations on foreign ownership of critical transportation infrastructure within the European Union, amid mounting concerns over security risks.
Chinese companies currently hold stakes in more than 30 European ports - a vital component of the bloc’s trade network.
The stakes are high as about 75 per cent of goods entering or leaving Europe do so by sea. Over 800 million tons of goods passed through the continent’s major ports in the third quarter of last year alone.
Essentials such as food, energy supplies and military equipment pass through these vital maritime gateways, raising alarm about their potential to be targeted in geopolitical conflicts.
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Ana Miguel Pedro, a Member of the European Parliament representing the European People’s Party, flagged the evolving nature of threats to critical infrastructure.
“Threats, they don’t always come in the form of war. The modern threats are even harder to see,” she told CNA.
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She cited examples like GPS signal interferences and cyberattacks, as well as damage inflicted to internet undersea cables.
In November last year, two telecommunications cables were cut in the Baltic Sea within a 48-hour period, prompting suspicions of “sabotage” and “hybrid warfare”. The severing was reportedly linked to a Chinese ship.
The European Commission recently raised concerns about foreign control over what it terms "critical transport infrastructure”.
It placed particular emphasis on the risks associated with sensitive information flow through ports, including details relevant to operations by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance.
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The current unease has lately centred on Chinese firms that have a large footprint across Europe’s ports.
Companies such as COSCO and China Merchants control stakes in over 30 of the continent’s biggest terminals. Such investments intensified over a decade ago, driven in part by a European port sector heavily in debt.
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