CKN Report Presentation - Chinese Investment in EU-seaports
We are pleased to invite you to the presentation of the new China Knowledge Network report on Chinese Investment in EU-seaports: In search of tipping points for economic competitiveness and national security.
Ports are critical infrastructure. As the new EU Port Strategy writes, they are βvital gateways for trade, logistics, energy, and military mobilityβ. Ports are also at the midst of US-China geopolitical rivalry, as shown by the ongoing dispute over Chinese investments in ports in Panama. A key question for the EU is how to deal with foreign direct investment and related strategic dependencies. As such, Chinese FDI in EU-seaports has become a topic of heated debate.
This new CKN report analyses the impact of Chinese direct investment in EU seaports on port competitiveness and national security interests. What should we know about the three main Chinese investors in EU seaports: COSCO Shipping Ports, China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPort), and Hutchinson Ports? Is there a tipping point where an increase in Chinese FDI no longer leads to increased economic competitiveness? And how to balance economic and national security interests?
This session provides an opportunity to discuss this topic with the report authors: Bart Kuipers (Erasmus UPT), Frans-Paul van der Putten (China Geopolitics) and Xiaoxue Martin (Clingendael Institute), as well as policy stakeholders. Following the welcome and introduction, the speakers will present the key findings of their report, and moderate a discussion on the policy recommendations with the attendees.
This study was conducted on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, within the framework agreement for the Dutch China Knowledge Network (CKN)
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Date: 24 June, 2026
Time: 15:30 - 17:00, followed by a borrel
Location: Room 2.19 Wijnhaven Building, The Hague or online
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15:15 - 15:30 | Arrival
15:30 - 15:40 | Welcome and introduction
15:40 - 16:10 | Presentation of key findings
16:10 - 16:55 | Roundtable discussion policy recommendations
16:55 - 17:00 | Closing remarks
17:00 - 18:00 | Networking drinks
About the speakers
- Bart Kuipers is a seaports and logistics adviser at Erasmus UPT since 2008. For more than three decades, Bart Kuipers has been researching freight transport, spatial logistical processes and seaport development. His PhD thesis addressed the issue of flexibility in the seaport-based industry, with a focus on the chemical industry. Bart has worked at the Dutch Ministry of Transport, at TU Delft and TNO.
- Frans-Paul van der Putten is a geopolitical analyst and advisor. He has non-resident affiliations with the Clingendael Institute (as a Senior Research Associate), LeidenAsiaCentre (as a Senior Fellow), and China Macro Group (as a Senior Expert). Frans-Paul studied history at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and later obtained a PhD degree at the same university with a dissertation on the strategies of Dutch and Anglo-Dutch companies to address political and geopolitical risks in China in the first half of the twentieth century.
- Xiaoxue Martin is a Research Fellow at the Clingendael China Centre. Her work focuses on the contemporary politics and international relations of China, in particular Hong Kong and Taiwan affairs, and Chinaβs relations with the United States and European Union. She has researched topics including European dependence on China, Chinaβs economic coercion, Chinese influence in infrastructure, soft power in Europe.
