ANI | Updated:May 14, 2022 23:27 IST

Beijing [China],May 14 (ANI): China's state-owned COSCO Shipping Corporation Ltd, thefourth-biggest player in the shipping industry, according to London-based dataanalytics company GlobalData, is increasingly expanding its operationsthroughout the world even as it conceals its association with the People'sLiberation Army Navy (PLAN), a media report said.

TheShanghai-headquartered group's continued transport of Russian crude oil toChina provided "economic succour for Russia as it faces a barrage of economicsanctions," Asia Nikkei reported, citing GlobalData analyst SathiyaJalapathy.

This singularfact shows the pressure on state-owned COSCO, as it is commonly known, tonavigate the new era in which the world finds itself, the report said, adding,that it must steer a perilous course through Beijing's growing confrontationswith developed democracies, while still serving an era of global trade in whichChina is central to both supply chains and demand.

At the sametime, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is mounting the biggest peacetimenaval buildup the world has ever seen, involving the private sector in aneffort that Beijing brands "military-civil fusion."

As of March ofthis year, COSCO Shipping owned and operated more than 400 container vessels inand out of 558 ports worldwide, according to group websites, along withhundreds more tankers and other vessels. Its ports subsidiary is now among theworld's top three largest port operators, Asia Nikkei reported.

China's navy mayonly have one base abroad, in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa, but replenishmentand other logistical support are in theory available wherever COSCO operates,the report said.

In 2019, China'sdefence ministry heralded the successful resupplying of the PLA Navy frigateLinyi by the Hong Kong-flagged COSCO container ship Fuzhou. Known as underwayreplenishment, the successful test was a "breakthrough" in enablingthe Chinese navy to push out into the high seas, the report said citing aministry statement.

COSCO and itssubsidiaries maintain relationships with various entities within China'sdefence-industrial establishment including, for example, receiving high-levelvisits from members of the Central Military Commission, the report furthersaid.

However, despiteCOSCO's closeness to the Chinese military, Taiwan's government allows it toship to and from Taiwanese ports.

"The Taiwangovernment should apply more scrutiny toward Chinese companies involved incritical infrastructure," said Tsun-yen Wang, an assistant research fellowat the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), a thinktank established by Taiwan's defence ministry.

In Asia, asidefrom Taiwan, the company has port holdings in Singapore and Busan in SouthKorea. But it is in Europe and the Middle East where most of its overseasportfolio lies, with holdings in Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Spain, the Netherlands andelsewhere, the report said.

At the heart ofthis web of holdings, the company's 67% stake in Greece's largest port,Piraeus, is its crown jewel -- the only port in Europe where COSCO has acontrolling share of the entire port, along with 100% ownership of containerterminals there, the report added.

COSCO is seekingto expand further, the report said, citing COSCO's Shipping Ports' 2021 annualreport in which chairman Feng Boming said that the company "will continueto grasp the opportunities to expand its global terminal network and focus onemerging markets such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa to enhancethe regional diversification of its terminal asset portfolio."

"It isremarkable how many governments around the world have given COSCO Shippingaccess to their critical infrastructure," said Ian Easton, senior directorat the Project 2049 Institute, a think tank. "For Beijing, this representsan incredible military and intelligence success story." (ANI)