Here's how China could use its ownership of EU critical infrastructure to exert pressure

The real concern is over digital and Europe's dependency on Chinese technology. "I worry more about other kinds of vulnerabilities, such as in the case of 5G, the possibility that it could be used for espionage or the possibility that it could be just turned off altogether," Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform (CER) think-tank, told Euronews. 

"We have seen quite recently a disruption to the German railway system that seems to have been caused by a cyberattack. It's not clear who carried it out but obviously, if China is inside the system, if it's Chinese companies that are setting up some of these systems, then the opportunities for the Chinese government to install backdoors or even hidden switches are that much greater," he said.

...This was the case in Hamburg, where German Chancellor Olaf Scholz backed the sale -- albeit at a lower stake -- despite concerns from other member states and the country's own intelligence services. 

"That's something that could be tightened up to make it more difficult for countries to say 'I know that my partners all think that this creates an additional vulnerability, but I don't care, I'm just going to take the money' because that does seem to me to be a risk," Bond argued.