Rallies without Flags: The European Parliament Discourse on Chinese Investment in EU Infrastructure

China’s expanding footprint in European infrastructure through projects linked to the Belt and Road Initiative and strategic acquisitions in transport, energy, and telecommunications has sparked intense debate about economic dependency, security, and sovereignty in the European Union. Existing scholarship often assumes that such high-salience challenges generate institutional cohesion, prompting EU actors to “rally around the flag” in defence of European interests. This article examines whether this assumption holds within the European Parliament (EP), an arena where ideological competition and transnational representation intersect. Drawing on a discourse analysis of plenary debates concerning Chinese investment between 2013 and 2023, the study investigates whether the “Chinese flag” functioned as a unifying or fragmenting frame in parliamentary rhetoric. By tracing how different political groups constructed China as either economic partner, strategic rival, or systemic threat, the paper assesses the extent to which these narratives fostered consensus or reinforced partisan cleavages. The article contributes to debates on the politicization of EU trade and investment relations and investigates how, even amid mounting geopolitical tension, the European Parliament remains a pluralistic forum.