In early 2018, Chinese aviation conglomerate Hangxin acquired Estonian aircraft maintenance company Magnetic MRO for 43 million euros. This was the largest known investment by a Chinese company into Estonia ever recorded.
Hangxin, however, has close ties to China’s Military-Civil Fusion system, and has entered into several government research projects intended to improve China’s military capabilities by absorbing private sector innovation into military domains.
This paper aims to shed light on Hangxin’s Military-Civil Fusion ties and connections to China’s party-state and the PLA. Its findings show that Estonia should be careful when accepting investments from countries with opaque political systems, and whose patterns of corporate behavior involving technology transfer could improve the military power of undemocratic regimes.
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Edited on 4 April 2023 (16:00).