Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said in a report that China is trying to suppress criticism and dominate key technologies in Estonia and other democracies. The Chinese Embassy in Estonia responded that the report’s section on China is full of “ignorance, bias and cold war thinking” and asked for the report to be revised. But Beijing‘s request was rejected by Estonia’s foreign minister.
An annual report released Feb. 12 by Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service highlights Beijing’s growing ability to increase its influence in the West through economic leverage, surveillance of Chinese citizens abroad and cultivation of local elites.
The report warned that China is expanding its influence over Estonia through investment, use of 5G networks and other means. It says the Chinese leadership “has a clear goal of making the world dependent on Chinese technology.
The report mentions Chinese 5G manufacturer huawei and the BeiDou navigation system. Estonia has joined the Trump administration’s aggressive global “clean initiative,” which pledges not to use products from “untrustworthy” suppliers in its own 5G network.
The report adds that “implementing China’s foreign policy principles, or creating a ‘community of Destiny,’ would lead to a muted world dominated by Beijing. Faced with growing confrontation with the West, China’s main goal is to create a divide between the United States and Europe.”
The Chinese Embassy in Estonia issued a statement Feb. 14 expressing “strong opposition” to the report’s references to China, saying it was full of “ignorance, prejudice and cold war thinking.”
“Regardless of the future of the developing relationship between China and Estonia, it portrays China as a threatening country through unfounded stories, distorted facts or malicious attacks. This is both unprofessional and irresponsible,” the English-language statement said.
The Chinese embassy also said it undermines bilateral relations and the feelings of the Chinese people toward the Estonian people. The Chinese embassy asked the Estonian authorities to revise this report.
However, China’s criticism of the report and its request to revise it was rejected by Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu.
The foreign minister was quoted by Estonian public radio (ERR) as saying, “The FIA’s assessment is a security assessment based on their own expertise. Of course, this does not mean that we will not develop bilateral cooperation with China from the point of view of the common security and national security of both countries.”
Reinsalu added that the EU and NATO are discussing China’s growing influence in the world.
“We will certainly follow the developments closely. The Estonian government has also adopted its own principles of China Policy,” he said.
The report comes days after Estonia and five other countries sent only ministers, not presidents or prime ministers, to the China-Central and Eastern European countries’ 17+1 leaders’ summit convened by China to snub Beijing.
China, which established diplomatic relations with Estonia in 1991, was one of the first countries to recognize the Baltic state’s restored independence from the former Soviet Union. But like the Czech Republic, the small country of Estonia has been more outspoken than other European powers when it comes to criticizing China.
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