Brussels is investigating a showcase Chinese rail project that aims to extend Beijing’s “One Belt One Road” initiative into the heart of Europe, potentially putting the European Commission at loggerheads with China.
The commission’s probe is into a planned 350km high-speed railway between Serbia’s capital Belgrade and Budapest in Hungary. The railway is billed as a hallmark scheme under “One Belt One Road”, a $900bn project championed by Xi Jinping, China’s president, to build infrastructure and win diplomatic friends in Europe, Asia and Africa.
European officials told the Financial Times that the investigation was assessing the financial viability of the $2.89bn railway and looking into whether it had violated European Union laws stipulating that public tenders must be offered for large transport projects.