Authors

Katja Kalkschmied¹; Ana Jeinic²;  ¹ Vienna School of International Studies, Austria;  ² Graz University of Technology, Austria

Discussion

Large-scale geopolitical rivalries often manifest in violent conflicts or diplomatic wars over local maritime infrastructure, particularly ports and harbor facilities. This occurs because ports play a central role as gateways that enable access to, and sometimes control over, entire states, regions, or even continents. The recent rivalry between China and the US, including China's efforts to increase its presence on European markets and the determined struggle of the US to keep its rival out of Europe, is no exception in this regard. Ports located in the northern part of the Adriatic Sea have become a strategic arena where these disputes take on a particularly palpable and concentrated form. In case studies of the North Adriatic port terminals Piattaforma logistica Trieste (Italy) and Zagreb Deep Sea Container Terminal in Rijeka (Croatia), we evaluate to what extent the US-China rivalry is behind the shift in European perception of Chinese maritime infrastructure investment from an opportunity to a threat for domestic economies. Based on the analysis of controversial investment decisions related to these two strategic port terminals, we tentatively conclude that recent changes in the treatment of Chinese investment by the EU express and exacerbate a process of double peripheralization: while at the level of global geopolitical relations, these changes aggravate the existing political subordination of the EU to the US, they simultaneously have the potential to deepen the asymmetry between the European core and its southern periphery.