China’s drive to win political friends was stumbling over unmet trade expectations and mounting public debt, until the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on economies offered Beijing new possibilities in Europe, two foreign policy experts said Monday.
The 17 Central and Eastern European nations in a loose trade arrangement with Beijing – the Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries founded in 2012 — now may be less insistent on transparency in future agreements to spur...
https://news.usni.org/2020/04/21/covid-19-pandemic-giving-china-a-firmer-foothold-in-europe