It’s a paradoxical sight: at Prague’s airport, named after Václav Havel, the Czech Republic’s celebrated playwright turned dissident turned president, a large Bank of China poster says “Renminbi: A New Choice. The World Currency.” Nearby, a large Hainan Airlines Airbus is parked. Since September 2015, the airline has operated direct flights to Beijing three times a week.
As the world’s eyes are turned towards the Kremlin’s covert and explicit moves aimed at influencing politics in central Europe — and rightly so — Beijing is building leverage in a region that was once alert, under leadership of the likes of President Havel, to the dangers of flirting with autocratic regimes.
China’s economic rise, which has raised hundreds of millions from abject poverty, is something to be celebrated — as is the country’s economic engagement around the world. What leaves a bitter aftertaste, however, is the autocratic character of the one-party regime, the government’s control of the banking sector and the resulting crony capitalism. The combination of all three makes Chinese investment overseas something much more than a purely economic, value-neutral matter.