Are China’s Inroads Into Central and Eastern Europe a Trojan Horse?

Are China’s Inroads Into Central and Eastern Europe a Trojan Horse?
A worker walks on the site of the China-financed reconstruction of a railway line, Belgrade, Serbia, Nov. 28, 2017 (AP photo by Darko Vojinovic).

BELGRADE, Serbia—Is China building a Trojan horse in a divided Europe? The diplomatic initiative between China and 16 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, known as the 16+1, has become more controversial since its launch in 2012 at a summit in Poland. Critics worry that it may undermine the European Union’s unified approach to Beijing, weaken transparency in economic and diplomatic engagement, and give a secretive regime with an increasingly muscular foreign policy a foothold in Europe.

The 16 European countries are all ex-communist states, and all but five are EU members. In January, Hans Dietmar Schweisgut, the EU’s ambassador to China, said that “all know what being a member of the European Union means and implies.” This was seen as a shot across their bows. Concerns about the impact of the 16+1 on the EU as a whole come in the context of growing differences between “core” EU member states, and the organization’s executive arm in Brussels, and some member states outside of Western Europe, most notably Hungary and Poland.

After the 16+1 summit in Budapest in November, an EU diplomat told the Financial Times that the meeting was the source of “a great deal of suspicion not only in Brussels but also in the capitals of many member states.”

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review