CHAPTER 16
China and the Portuguese Atlantic: The BRI’S
Last Puzzle Piece
Jorge Tavares da Silva and Rui Pereira
Introduction
The debt crisis that affected the European Union (EU) from 2008–2010
is a consequence of the economic liberalization since the 1980s. The
global lack of transparency and ethics, greed and supervisory failures are
among the main reasons that lead to the subprime crisis. The delicate sit-
uation of Portugal leads the government to find solutions and alternatives
in other geographical areas. It realized that its foreign policy was almost
exclusively addicted to EU and neglected some of its traditional relations,
including Asian linkages. Since the beginning of the Portuguese demo-
cratic project that this country almost directed all its foreign policy to the
European Community and the Euro-Atlantic security community, based
J. T. da Silva (B )
University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
e-mail: jmts@ua.pt
R. Pereira
Ministry of Economy and Digital Transition, Lisbon, Portugal
e-mail: Rui.Pereira@dgae.gov.pt
© The Author(s) 2020
F. J. B. S. Leandro and P. A. B. Duarte (eds.),
The Belt and Road Initiative,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2564-3_16
389