Estonia’s intelligence agency has issued a report saying it should be wary of China’s growing international influence to avoid “a muted world dominated by Beijing,” a move that has drawn official protests from the Chinese Communist Party.
In its annual report released last week (Feb. 12), Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said global dependence on Chinese technology is increasing, which “poses a significant security threat” to the rest of the world.
The report cites technologies in which China already plays or will soon play a key role globally: next-generation 5G mobile networks, advanced satellite navigation technology, cloud services and artificial intelligence. China’s “leadership has a clear goal of making the world dependent on Chinese technology,” according to the report.
The agency warned the Estonian leadership that having the country “integrated into China’s autonomous technology ecosystem would leave Estonia vulnerable and dependent on China. Estonia, a member of NATO and the European Union, has previously banned Chinese company huawei from supplying technology and equipment to its government agencies, citing security concerns.
The report also notes the potential for Beijing to expand its increased influence in the West through economic leverage, surveillance of Chinese citizens abroad and propaganda techniques including the dissemination of misinformation.
The report argues that “the implementation of Chinese foreign policy principles, or the creation of a so-called ‘community of Destiny,’ would lead to a world dominated by Beijing that is muted. Faced with growing confrontation with the West, China’s main goal is to create a divide between the United States and Europe.”
“Community of human destiny” is a term often used by Communist Party leader Xi Jinping
In the introduction to the report, Mikk Marran, head of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, said China’s activities “raise new security issues every year. In addition, China and Russia are cooperating more and more closely, and in this partnership “Beijing is more often the dominant party.
Chinese Embassy asks for rewrite
The Chinese Embassy in Estonia issued a statement Feb. 14 expressing “strong opposition” to the China section of the report, saying it is full of “ignorance, prejudice and cold war thinking,” Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) reported.
“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.
China asked for the report to be revised, but the Estonian Foreign Ministry refused. The report quoted Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu as saying, “The FISA 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.”
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu
The three Baltic states – Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – were represented at ministerial level only at last week’s China-Central and Eastern European countries’ 17 + 1 Leaders’ Video Summit.
Estonia has long viewed neighboring Russia as a major security threat. But in recent years, fears of China’s power bracket in Europe have been growing.
Russia will “take advantage of the new crown crisis to weaken the West”
The intelligence service’s annual report also focuses at considerable length on Russia, arguing that the current New Crown Epidemic is weakening Western solidarity, which favors a more significant role for Moscow in international affairs, leading to “a decline in Western influence on the global stage.”
The report argues that Russia will continue to engage in actions to expand its influence in 2021 in order to create and deepen divisions within and among Western societies, including EU countries.
The report says Russia’s actions are likely to include attempts to discredit Western-produced New Crown vaccines, both to gain a market for its own vaccine in the world and to fulfill its strategic ambition to show that Russia is the first power to provide a solution to the New crown outbreak.
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