Timothy Garton Ash on China's colonies in Europe

Struggling Europe is an open invitation for China to expand its influence there, writes Timothy Garton Ash in the left-liberal daily El País: "Once upon a time, Europe colonised bits of China. Today, China colonises bits of Europe. Informally, of course, and much more politely than when the boot was on the other foot. China's rise both illuminates and exploits Europe's relative decline. Over the last year, Chinese political leaders have also visited Spain, Portugal and Greece. Why pay so much attention to the periphery? Well, there are promising investments to be made there and these smaller, peripheral economies are an easy way in to a single European market of 500 million consumers. The EU market is far more open to Chinese investors than the Chinese one is to Europeans. Investing heavily in these countries also has a political pay-off. The more dependent they become on Chinese investment and trade, the less likely they are to support common EU actions which China regards as inimical to its vital interests. It is not too cynical to see Beijing building up a kind of China lobby inside the decision-making structures of the EU, where the smallest state is at least notionally equal to the biggest."

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