Siren song: Chinese economic diplomacy regarding Portugal (the case of the energy sector)

• Published date: 01 May 2021
• Author: José Pedro Teixeira Fernandes
• Date: 01 May 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2203

ACADEMIC PAPER

Siren song: Chinese economic diplomacy regarding Portugal

(the case of the energy sector)

José Pedro Teixeira Fernandes

InstitutoPortuguês de Relações Internacionais/

ISCET, Portugal

Correspondence

José Pedro Teixeira Fernandes, Instituto

Português de Relações Internacionais, Lisboa,

Portugal.

Email: jptfernandes@gmail.com

The main purpose of this article is a brief analysis of China and its economic diplomacy

regarding Portugal, as a Member Stateof the European Union. The analysis was devel-

oped throughout several points. First, the Chinese model of socialist market economy

within a global environment configured by liberal ideas. Second, the main characteris-

tics of China's economic diplomacy model, one where the economic and the political

are closely intertwined. Third, a focus on the economic attractivenessthat China exerts

upon Portugal, in particular, the Chinese investment in the Portuguese energy sector.

Finally, some conclusions about the possible consequences for Portugal economic and

strategic dependence on China in a world wherethe US-China rivalry is growing.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has

said that Portugal firmly supports the Belt and Road

Initiative proposed by China since its commencement.

Rebelo de Sousa made the remarks while meeting visit-

ing Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister

Wang Yi […] While conveying his warmest regards to

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Rebelo de Sousa said that

Portugal attaches great importance to China and

believes that Portugal is one of the European countries

which understands China best. There is always consen-

sus over Portugal's cooperation with China among

both ruling and opposition parties, he said.

Government of China/Belt and Road Portal (2018b)

Use wax to plug your sailors' ears as you row past, so

they are deaf to them. But if you wish to hear them,

your men must fasten you to your ship's mast by hand

and foot, straight upright, with tight ropes.

Homer (Odyssey, Book XII)

1

1|INTRODUCTION

Western perception of China usually wavers between two extremes.

On the one hand, a “fascination with the Orient,”which extends to

the present, corresponding to a romantic view of a China that, despite

an imperial past, was not imperialist. A unique case in history of a

peaceful power who, unlike the West or the Japanese, always refused

to dominate other peoples. Today we find a State that respects the

sovereignty of other States, one deeply interested in commercial trade

and cultural exchange with foreign peoples. An economy with an

extraordinary success in this globalization era, endowed with a gigan-

tic internal market. The opposing view describes present events as a

return, albeit under other guises, of a “yellow peril”feared by

Europeans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, China is

the West's nemesis for the USA. Driven by a spirit of conquest, and

also of revenge for the humiliations of the past, China strives to be

the leading global power, excluding the Americans and other west-

erners from the Asia-Pacific region. Its economic-political system,

combining authoritarianism and capitalism, seeks to discredit liberal

democracies and turn China into a future hegemonic power. (For a

discussion of the complexities of China from different perspectives

see inter alia Rudolph & Szonyi, 2018).

In addition to the problems generated by such antagonistic

viewpoints, the difficulty in analyzing China is intensified by the

nature of its political regime. Compared to what is common in lib-

eral democracies, China is marked by a high degree of opaqueness

and secrecy, with significant restrictions on access to relevant

information. The regulation of its citizen's access to the Internet

and the tight cyber-surveillance over what is written and shared on

social networks are only some of the best known aspects of this

problem. Despite the aforementioned research difficulties—accrued

by a language and alphabet that are very different from Western

Received: 31 July 2019 Accepted: 20 May 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2203

J Public Affairs. 2021;21:e2203. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 1of8

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2203