Securitising Piraeus Port: EU Perceptions and Political Responses to Chinese FDI
Author
Larsen, Signe Balling
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2025
Abstract
This thesis examines COSCO’s acquisition of Piraeus Port as a case to understand how the European Union frames Chinese foreign direct investment in strategic infrastructure as a security issue. The central research question asks how the EU securitises Chinese investments and what drives this process in the Piraeus case. Methodologically, it uses a qualitative case study that combines Lene Hansen’s poststructuralist discourse analysis of EU statements with stakeholder interviews with representatives from Think Tank Europa and Rasmussen Global. The theoretical framework draws on economic statecraft, party‑state capitalism, securitisation theory, and epistemic communities. The analysis finds that COSCO’s takeover intensified EU securitisation discourse on Chinese FDI and contributed to the creation and later strengthening of the EU’s investment screening mechanism (most recently revised in 2024 with mandatory screening in certain sectors). Although China is seldom named explicitly, Chinese state‑owned enterprises are increasingly portrayed as challenges to the EU’s rule‑based economic order and governing authority. Internal divisions among member states—including Greek divergence—and competing epistemic communities shape the discourse, audience acceptance, and policy responses. The thesis concludes that EU discourse is driven by concerns about COSCO’s ties to the CCP as well as deeper internal fault lines that risk undermining EU cohesion, and it contributes to the debate on how to balance economic openness with security in an era of growing geopolitical competition.
Specialet undersøger COSCOs overtagelse af Piraeus Havn som en case til at forstå, hvordan EU italesætter kinesiske direkte investeringer i strategisk infrastruktur som et sikkerhedsanliggende. Det overordnede forskningsspørgsmål er, hvordan EU sikkerhedsgør kinesiske investeringer, og hvad der driver denne proces i Piraeus-sagen. Metodisk anvendes et kvalitativt casestudie, der kombinerer Lene Hansens poststrukturalistiske diskursanalyse af EU-udtalelser med stakeholderinterviews med repræsentanter fra Think Tank Europa og Rasmussen Global. Teoretisk bygger analysen på økonomisk statskunst, partistatlig kapitalisme, sikkerhedsgørelse samt epistemiske fællesskaber. Analysen finder, at COSCOs opkøb intensiverede EU’s sikkerhedsdiskurs om kinesiske investeringer og bidrog til indførelsen og senere styrkelsen af EU’s screeningsmekanisme for udenlandske direkte investeringer (senest revideret i 2024 med obligatorisk screening i visse sektorer). Selvom Kina sjældent nævnes direkte, fremstilles kinesiske statsejede selskaber i stigende grad som udfordringer for EU’s regelbaserede økonomiske orden og styringsautoritet. Interne uenigheder mellem medlemsstater—herunder græsk afvigelse—samt konkurrerende epistemiske fællesskaber præger diskursen, dens gennemslagskraft og policy-svar. Specialet konkluderer, at EU’s diskurs formes af bekymringer om COSCOs bånd til KKP såvel som dybere interne skillelinjer, der kan undergrave EU’s sammenhængskraft, og bidrager dermed til debatten om at balancere økonomisk åbenhed med sikkerhed i en tid med tiltagende geopolitisk konkurrence.
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