Data Dominance: China Establishes Key EU Outpost in Cyprus

China’s Huawei has come to dominate the 5G rollout in Cyprus, with risks for data security and independent policymaking that go far beyond the island’s shores, experts warn

People arrive to attend the Huawei keynote address at the IFA 2020 Special Edition consumer electronics and appliances trade fair on the fair's opening day in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 3, 2020. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Republished with permission from BIRN. 

In October 2015, two years after a banking crisis left Cyprus in desperate need of new financing, President Nicos Anastasiades visited China on a charm offensive, touting the Mediterranean island’s low tax rates, its European Union membership and its readiness to take part in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, BRI.