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** China Taking Over While Europe Sleeps ([link removed])
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by Robert Williams • September 14, 2023 at 5:00 am
* Europe is in "complete denial" as China proceeds to spread its influence on the continent. At least that is the urgent, unequivocal view of Ivana Karásková, a Czech foreign influence specialist and a special adviser to European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová.
* "Asked what parts of the Continent were most in the dark about Chinese influence, she added: 'The whole of Western Europe is not looking. And yet there are cases that are so blatant.'"
* In July 2023, the UK's Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament released a comprehensive report on China's threat to the country, and how the Communist power seeks both political and economic influence.
* The Committee found that China had "successfully penetrate[d] every sector of the UK's economy," and that "the Government has been so keen to take Chinese money that it has not been watching China's sleight of hand."
* "China sees almost all of its global activity in the context of what it sees as the struggle between the United States and China, and therefore it sees the United Kingdom fundamentally through that optic. China aspires to split off from the United States countries which it thinks might be detachable, and they sometimes have a sunnily optimistic view about which countries might be susceptible to that treatment. I would say that that was their single biggest issue with the United Kingdom." — Sir Julian Lewis, Chairman of the UK's Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, July 13,2023.
* China's influence in the UK... reaches deep into the government, as well. Despite all of the above "the Government does not want there to be any meaningful scrutiny of sensitive investment deals" with China according to the report.
* Meanwhile, the UK Foreign Office reportedly told UK government officials not to use the term "hostile state" about China in order not to offend the Communist country. The term, the Foreign Office said, should not be used in documents and internal messages via email and WhatsApp between advisers, civil servants and ministers.
* "[T]he PRC's influence is significantly higher in Germany than comparable European countries." — The China Index 2022, an independent organization that tracks Chinese influence worldwide.
* "A key concern is the high level of uncritical research cooperation between Germany and China, including in sensitive technological and military areas, which is one of the highest and among the most 'captured' globally... Huawei, BGI, ZTE, Hisilicon (Huawei-owned) and other Chinese companies collaborate with and fund projects at German universities and research institutions. Huawei alone has entered into at least 120 cooperation projects over the last 15 years, with annual budgets between 25,000-290,000 euros per project. The real number is unclear, as German universities sometimes cite their 'academic freedom' to refuse to answer freedom of information questions...." — The China Index 2022.
* There are "90 Chinese groups in Germany with direct ties to the United Front bureaucracy in China.... Add on about 80 Chinese Student and Scholar Associations, more than 20 Confucius Institutes and classrooms, a dozen united front-aligned, Chinese-language media...an as yet unknown number of "Chinese Aid Centers"... and the phenomenon is both large and complex. There are hundreds of groups working in Germany to maintain the CCP's ideology, values, language and goals.... from the grassroots to the elite. Europe-wide, these groups are embedded throughout civil society...and likely number over a thousand, since they are present... in every country." — Didi Kirsten Tatlow, China expert, synopsis.cz, February 10, 2019.
* "The decision to join the Silk Road [Belt and Road Initiative] was an improvised and atrocious act," Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said recently.
* "The Chinese Communist Party has always forged links with politicians from countries whose positions...they wished to influence." — Paul Charon and Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer, "Chinese Influence Operations: A Machiavellian Moment," October 2021.
* "The CCP also seems very active within the Italian political class, targeting the M5S [Five Star Movement] in particular." — Paul Charon and Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer, "Chinese Influence Operations: A Machiavellian Moment," October 2021.
* "In France, as much as anywhere else, the Party has forged strong relationships with individuals enabling China to infiltrate the political sphere, defend its interests and silence critical voices.... Beyond individuals punctually and diversely recruited by the Party, the construction of a Chinese network within the French elite runs through the France-China Foundation since 2013." — Paul Charon and Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer, "Chinese Influence Operations: A Machiavellian Moment," October 2021.
* "In the Czech Republic, another interesting European example, Chinese influence on politicians has reached new heights. MapInfluenCE described a massive penetration of Czech political networks, the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) most specifically..." — Paul Charon and Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer, "Chinese Influence Operations: A Machiavellian Moment," October 2021.

Europe is in "complete denial" as China proceeds to spread its influence on the continent. China has influenced or co-opted elites all over Europe. (Image source: iStock)

Europe is in "complete denial" as China proceeds to spread its influence on the continent. At least that is the urgent, unequivocal view of Ivana Karásková, a Czech foreign influence specialist and a special adviser to European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová.

"In some countries, awareness of [Chinese influence operations] is high because they have a history of Russian-backed action. Elsewhere, it's complete denial," she told Politico. "It's very uneven in terms of awareness. There are some countries where the discussion isn't happening at all."

Karásková was referring to what Politico calls China's "direct propaganda" and "covert funding of think tanks, academic institutions and nonprofit organizations," and she said, according to Politico, that "Beijing has long aimed propaganda at the European Union, seeking to undermine transatlantic unity and promote Beijing's outlook on world affairs."

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