Portugal welcomes China investments in Azores

                           

Portugal is welcoming non-military Chinese engagement in the Azores to help develop the logistical and research potential of the mid-Atlantic island chain.

The growing Chinese influence on the archipelago is worrying Washington as the U.S. reduces its military presence at the Lajes Field air base on the island of Terceira. A series of senior Chinese officials -- including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang -- have used the island as a stop-over on trips to Latin America, as China seeks to expand its footprint overseas and safeguard economic interests.

In a Bloomberg Television interview in Macau on Tuesday, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said that while his nation -- a NATO member -- would continue to honor its defense pact with the U.S., he also wants to see better use of the Azores. The islands are "very important both logistically in the Atlantic Ocean but also in terms of technology and research, in the field of climate change and deep water research," he said.

"The military use of the American base at this moment is not on the table, what is on the table is for EU institutes, American institutes and Chinese institutes to reuse infrastructure for scientific research purposes," said Costa, 55. "It'd be a huge waste not to use that infrastructure. We need to reuse that infrastructure, and if you are not going to use it for the military purpose, why not scientific research?"

Lajes Field -- located 2,290 miles east of New York and about 1,000 miles west of Lisbon -- had served as a key link between the U.S. and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Middle East. During the Cold War, the base played a crucial role in tracking Soviet guided missiles and ballistic missile submarines in the region. It also supported U.S. airlift missions to Israel in the 1970s.

The U.S. planned to cut its military presence at Lajes to under 170 active duty personnel after the global economic crisis, in a move that is hurting the local economy. The down-scaling is also seen by Pentagon hawks as strategically precarious.