A Chinese enclave may delay military deliveries to Poland

On the territory of the Port of Gdynia there is an enclave that is not subject to Polish law and is owned by GCT. The facility can be used to conduct surveillance of military facilities and delay the import of heavy military equipment to Poland and Ukraine – reports the Wirtualna Polska portal.  

At the end of May 2023, the Pomeranian Voivodeship announced a tender for the construction of an external port in the port of Gdynia. It includes the construction of a road-rail system. This is good news for the city, as the Port of Gdynia will be able to increase its transhipment capabilities, which will enhance its attractiveness in the Baltic Sea. The tender is to be completed in February 2024. Importantly, in the future, the external port will carry out not only civil but also military transshipment.

Wirtualna Polska reports that so far four offers for the construction of the external port have been received, two of which were submitted by companies directly related to China. These are Hutchison Ports (the owner of the GCT terminal in Gdynia) and Mota-Engil Central Europe (its co-owner is a state-owned Chinese construction giant, which was subject to US sanctions in 2020).

It should be noted that the Chinese GCT, which manages part of the Bulgarian Waterfront in the Port of Gdynia, in September refused access to it to the American ship “MV Cape Ducato”, which carried heavy military equipment for the Polish and Ukrainian armies. Thus, the deadline for reloading the military equipment was at risk.

In addition, the territory of the Chinese company could be used for surveillance and espionage activities. “The basic condition of security is control over critical infrastructure. One of its elements is the Port of Gdynia, which also plays an important role in the NATO logistics system. It should also be remembered that in the immediate vicinity is the largest naval base of the Republic of Poland and a Naval Shipyard,” commander Mirosław Draus, former attaché of defense of the Republic of Poland in Japan told Wirtualna Polska.

The portal explains that at the port there is a facility that is not subject to Polish harbor law or the Gdynia Port Authority represented by the State Treasury. Under the powers taken over from the Gdynia Shipyard, the Chinese will use this area until 2089, so the GCT is not covered by domestic law, which makes the company’s activities beyond any control.

It is worth noting that a year ago the Chinese attempted to take control of the container terminal on the Helski Quay in the port of Gdynia. The transaction was blocked after the intervention of civil and military counterintelligence, but this does not change the fact that the Polish counterintelligence will have their hands full.

Wirtualna Polska / Jacek Perzyński