Diogo Lacerda Machado: “The Chinese shareholder is not the boss of EDP”
Diogo Lacerda Machado defends the virtues of the Chinese investment in Portugal and recalls that during the financial crisis, no one would even so much as look at Portugal.
In an interview to ECO24, a partnership between ECO and the TV channel TVI24, Diogo Lacerda Machado, TAP’s chairman and the prime minister’s adviser, speaks about Chinese investment in Portugal, namely on EDP.
"China Three Gorges is a shareholder, it is the largest shareholder, but it is not the boss of EDP. ”
Lacerda Machado says that because he witnessed the Chinese ideal of coexistence while he lived in Macau, he is an advocate of that country’s investment in Portugal. He also commands China’s availability to invest in Portugal when no one wanted to do so: “During the darkest times of troika’s bailout, no one invested here. No one even came close to Portugal. And China was the country that helped us in a time of need. We need to value and respect that“.
He further states the Chinese and China have a broader sense of time than Portugal: “The Chinese make very long-term investments, they are not seeking benefits right away”. He also says: “That point of view and that way to see life and to coexist with others has turned China into a strategical partner of Portugal“.
However, when looking closely at EDP, Lacerda Machado makes a clear distinction between António Mexia’s management and the energy company’s main shareholder, China Three Gorges: “China Three Gorges is a shareholder, it is the largest shareholder [23% equity], but it is not the boss of EDP”.
