China’s Deep Control Over Portugal’s Energy ,A Threat to Europe?

Poonam Sharma
In April 2025, much of Spain and Portugal plunged into darkness. In a span of mere seconds, Spain lost 15 gigawatts of capacity—roughly 60% of its total electricity consumption. The lights went out, and the questions began to pour in. Why did this happen? Was it a cyberattack? A technological glitch? Or was it something sinister?
Six months on, there is no definitive answer.
That silence is worse than the blackout itself. Specialists assert that contemporary energy systems have multiple diagnostic levels—yet the Iberian Peninsula, where there is advanced European infrastructure, can’t determine what caused half its power system to collapse. Amidst the suspicion, one element continues to linger in the background—China’s strategic penetration into Portugal’s energy and key infrastructure.
And that’s where this narrative really starts.
The Unseen Battlefield
Energy has become one of the 21st century’s most crucial battlefields. Power networks, once thought of as simple utilities, are now regarded as national security assets. But as most of Europe was preoccupied arguing over green transitions, China was implementing a whole-spectrum invasion strategy—financial, diplomatic, and business—beginning with Portugal.
The key actor in this strategy has been China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG). Supported by the Chinese government, CTG beat Germany’s E.ON in 2011 to take control as the biggest shareholder in Portugal’s most vital energy utility—EDP (Energias de Portugal). Germany had Angela Merkel’s approval and felt its bid was a shoo-in. But China brought more than an increased offer. It arrived with a package that was unbeatable: top-of-the-line share pricing, €2 billion investments in wind projects, and €4 billion credit lines via Chinese state-owned banks.
It wasn’t an acquisition of a corporate nature. It was a geopolitical move.
Monkey King in the Demon’s Belly
One of the few Chinese media outlets linked to the CCP, Xinhua, welcomed the takeover in poetic but sinister language: “It’s like the Monkey King entering the Demon’s belly.” The allusion to Journey to the West was far from subtle—it suggested that having entered, China was free to wreak havoc from within.
That is precisely what took place.
CTG’s holding in EDP was not symbolic. EDP is not merely Portugal’s largest energy utility— it has operations in Spain, France, Italy, the UK, the U.S., and much of Latin America. The implications were enormous.
CTG kept growing, taking over a 49% share of wind farms in Portugal, Italy, and Poland. It joined forces with EDP in 2023 to obtain the UK’s Moray West offshore wind farm, further pushing into European energy supply chains. Meanwhile, it ingrained its influence through diplomatic interventions and initiatives such as youth talent exchanges—often camouflaged soft power instruments.
Strategic Dependence
Portugal did not rest with energy. Now, China’s influence reaches into almost every aspect of the country’s strategic infrastructure:
25% of REN, Portugal’s national electricity and gas transmission company, is held by State Grid Corporation of China.
85% of Fidelidade, Portugal’s biggest insurance company, is controlled by Chinese conglomerate Fosun.
Fosun also holds 20% of Millennium BCP, Portugal’s second-largest bank.
Even the medical and building industries were not left behind—Fosun has several hospitals, while China Communications Construction Company holds 30% of Mota-Engil, Portugal’s largest infrastructure company.
Portugal, which was once regarded as a strong EU economy after the 2008 crisis, is now by some economists called a “quasi-vassal state” of China. And that’s the problem at the very center—when one nation quietly gets control over another’s vital infrastructure, the harm is not done with tanks and bombs. Silence itself is used as a weapon.
Spain in the Splash Zone
Spain, also, is exposed—its energy grid is networked with that of Portugal and thus is directly affected by any systemic collapse or penetration on the Portuguese front. What occurs in Lisbon no longer remains in Lisbon. The blackout in April hit both countries—and it may do so again.
More ominously, Chinese influence operations are increasingly extending into Spain through mutual corporate and energy connections. And in contrast to the U.S., which quickly shut down a complete Chinese acquisition of EDP in 2018, the EU still does not possess a collective strategic vision for pushing back against Beijing’s designs.
U.S. Ambassador to Spain George Glass has even warned of this in the open. According to him, EDP owns almost 80% of Portugal’s electricity assets and that Europe needs to reevaluate its receptivity to foreign domination of essential systems.
Lessons Not Learned
Even after signing the failed 2018 full acquisition attempt, China didn’t give up. Rather, it shifted gears to long-term influence creation—via political visits, soft diplomacy, and continuous shareholding increases. CTG’s senior leaders traveled to Lisbon in 2023 and again in 2025, signing MOUs, and introducing programs many experts believe are Trojan horses for long-term ideological and economic domination.
Up to this point, nobody has raised the alarm in Europe loud enough. And that’s the issue—not only for Portugal, but for the whole of Europe, particularly its poorer and southern countries, where Chinese investments tend to be perceived as lifelines and not burdens.

The Next Blackout Won’t Be Accidental
The April 2025 blackout can be dismissed as an aberration, but its unfinished quality is the true warning. It is a sign of a greater vulnerability—a continent that has sacrificed strategic independence for fleeting capital. And now, when things do go wrong, there is no obvious solution, no one to hold responsible, only strange quiet.

That silence may well be the hum of a battlefield unseen, where nations are conquered not by force, but by infrastructure and influence. And in this quiet war, Portugal has already fallen—while Spain may be next.
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