China, Construction, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Investments, Security, Transport

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 21:23

Estonian intelligence: Chain of command in tunnel financing may run back to Chinese govt

BC, Tallinn, 12.02.2020.Print version
As with many apparently private companies in China, the chain of command in the proposed financing scheme of an undersea tunnel between Tallinn and Helsinki may run back to the Chinese central government, the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service says in its annual report published Wednesday citing LETA/BNS.

Observing that the world has not seen China as active in foreign policy as it is now for decades, the Foreign Intelligence Service says that the underlying goal for China is to impose its own worldview and standards, building a Beijing-led international environment that appeals to China.


"The concept of 'peaceful development' advocated by the previous Chinese president Hu Jintao is used less and less by current Chinese leaders, and instead, they are stressing more and more across the globe the message of China as a power that has come to stay, with others simply forced to adjust to this 'new world order'," the report says.


"China even has a term for countries that are willing to adapt -- a community of 'common destiny' (mingyun gongtongti), which the Communist Party of China (CPC) has been increasingly active in building. President Xi Jinping has used this concept in all his major speeches. The importance of building a community of countries with a 'common destiny' was given the highest priority in a document outlining China's position submitted to the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly in 2019," the Estonian security service says.


"It is a parallel world opposed to the current world order, with China assuming a leading role. Orchestrated from Beijing,

lobbying efforts are ongoing across the globe to feel out the situation and identify the countries most susceptible to China's agenda. China is increasingly aware that the doors are closed in the United States, but Europe offers much more fertile soil for Chinese rhetoric," the report says.


Observing that with many apparently private companies in China, the chain of command runs back to state-owned enterprises and the central government, the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service said speaking of the background of the Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel investor that in summer 2019, the UK authorities were threatening to remove from the UK business register Touchstone Capital Group Holdings Limited, a British-registered member of Touchstone Capital Partners that has been named as the potential investor in the Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel project. According to a report dated Oct. 31, 2019, the company's assets totaled one pound sterling.


"The same Kenny (Fuzai) Song-owned company promised to invest 15 bn euros in the Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel in 2019. Recently, however, there have been rumors about the possibility that the tunnel will be funded by China Investment & Construction Group Holding Limited (CICG), another company established by Kenny Song, in January 2019, which intends to finance the tunnel by going public. With China, raising capital on a stock exchange often points to the involvement of a state-owned enterprise," the report says.


The report points out that not all of Kenny Song's business partners are doing well either. For example, a big Chinese company, Shandong Xiwang Group, defaulted in autumn last year. Kenny Song has registered Touchstone-Xiwang Investment Group Holdings in UK together with one of the key persons of Shandong Xiwang Group.






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