The EU’s China sell-out – what next? Huawei’s odd Swedish fanclub. And the ripples from an Afghan spy bust
Hello, and welcome to China Influence Monitor, a weekly newsletter published by CEPA and Coda Story and edited by me, Edward Lucas. We track the westward footprint of China’s influence operations, and their effects on politics, economies, societies and alliances across Central Asia, the Caucasus, Russia and Europe.
In this issue: The EU’s China Investment Agreement is a setback, but not a catastrophe; Ericsson’s not-totally-sincere lobbying for Huawei — and a Kazakh winemaker hopes to profit from Australia’s woes.
2021 has got off to a dismal start, with the crackdown in Hong Kong and near-meltdown in Washington, D.C. Chinese official media have gleefully linked the two, equating the mob rampaging through the Capitol with the pro-democracy protesters in the supposedly autonomous territory.
Reminder: Nothing that Chinese influence operations do to democracies matches the damage that we do to ourselves.