𝗢𝗜𝗟 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗘.𝗰𝗼𝗺 (BVI) 𝟰 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲: "China, Turkey Relations Strained After EV Investment Fallout" + 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝘆𝗲 (UK) 𝟯 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲: "China steps up 'propaganda blitz' in Turkey amid investment fallout" + 𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗳.𝗰𝗼𝗺 (𝟱 𝗔ğ𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝘀 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲): "BYD Türkiye'de satışlarda büyük düşüş yaşadı: Temmuz'da sadece 17 araç sattı"
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China, Turkey Relations Strained After EV Investment Fallout
- ▶ BYD has paused its planned $1 billion EV factory in Turkey, opting to expand production in Hungary instead to avoid EU tariffs.
- ▶ The investment setback has strained China-Turkey relations, prompting Beijing to launch a diplomatic and media campaign aimed at preserving broader strategic and economic ties.
- ▶ Turkey is weighing legal action to recover investment incentives from BYD as the project stalls, adding pressure amid the country’s broader economic challenges.
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China and Turkey spent years strengthening a strategic partnership built on trade, investment and access to European markets. The sudden collapse of a flagship $1 billion Chinese investment now threatens to slow one of Beijing’s most important economic relationships in the region. For years, China and Turkey have maintained a cordial and strategic relationship, with Turkey’s access to the EU Customs Union making it an attractive destination for Chinese investments. Chinese goods produced in Turkey move into the EU without extra customs fees, helping companies beat new tariffs on Chinese products. Sitting directly on the Middle Corridor transport network, Turkey also enjoys a logistical edge, shortening supply chains and shipping times to Europe compared to the usual ocean routes. China is Turkey's third-largest global trading partner, with Turkey importing $45 billion worth of Chinese goods in 2025. Additionally, as a NATO member with long-standing ties to the US and EU, Turkey is able to leverage its growing cooperation with China to assert strategic independence and gain leverage over its Western allies. Turkey is also a partner of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Unfortunately, relations between the two countries have lately been strained following the sudden collapse of a highly anticipated $1 billion investment by China’s electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD Company Ltd (OTCPK:BYDDF). The high-profile deal was secured by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July 2024, aiming to make Turkey an EV manufacturing hub.
Last month, BYD officially paused its planned $1 billion EV manufacturing plant in Manisa, Turkey, shifting its focus to ramping up production inside the European Union. According to BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li, BYD will begin assembling electric vehicles at its new plant in Szeged, Hungary, in the fourth quarter of 2026, with the plant targeting 150,000 units per year before later doubling capacity. Building cars within the EU allows BYD to sidestep the EU’s 27% tariff imposed on Chinese-made EV imports, with Turkey's Customs Union agreement proving insufficient to bypass "Made in Europe" protectionist regulations.
BYD snubbed Turkey despite the fact that Ankara granted it massive tax incentives on imported vehicles, allowing the company to sell over 45,000 vehicles in China in 2025 and pocket up to $1 billion in extra profits.
And now Beijing has launched a charm offensive and major propaganda campaign in Turkey in a bid to mitigate the backlash and safeguard its broader geopolitical objectives after the BYD about-turn left Ankara humiliated.
According to the Middle East Eye, the Chinese embassy in Ankara has been placing unsigned promotional articles in pro-government Turkish media outlets stressing high-level cooperation between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The state-funded Turkey-China Friendship Foundation organized an eight-day, all-expenses-paid trip to the Xinjiang region for Turkish journalists, with the resulting coverage skipping over human rights concerns and instead focusing purely on local counter-terrorism and economic integration. Turkey is home to the largest Uyghur diaspora outside of Central Asia, with Beijing repeatedly accused of human rights violations on the Turkic-Muslim community in Xinjiang.
Back in 2022, a comprehensive United Nations human rights report found credible evidence that Beijing's actions in the Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity. Experts estimate that over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have been held in re-education camps without due process, with detainees reportedly facing physical torture, political brainwashing, malnutrition and sexual violence. The Human Rights Watch has also documented systemic destruction of Uyghur heritage, with the government demolishing thousands of religious shrines and replacing historical Uyghur village names with generic Chinese communist terminology. To secure Chinese investments and swap lines during economic crunches, Ankara has previously muted its criticisms of China's human rights record in Xinjiang, blocked parliamentary inquiries into the Uyghur issue and avoided joining Western or UN calls to condemn Beijing's actions.
While these PR moves are attempting to alleviate the sting of a failed multi-billion-dollar project, experts point out that Ankara’s worsening economic struggles mean it will likely continue its balancing act between Beijing and its Western allies.
Turkey recently achieved a notable diplomatic win with Western allies, underscored by hosting a NATO Summit in Ankara and seeing the lifting of CAATSA sanctions by the U.S. The BYD saga, on the other hand, comes at a time when Turkey's economy is facing major headwinds, including high inflation, depleted international reserves and vulnerability to regional energy and conflict disruptions
By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com
Alex Kimani
Alex Kimani is a veteran finance writer, investor, engineer and researcher for Safehaven.com.
China steps up 'propaganda blitz' in Turkey amid investment fallout
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The Chinese government has substantially stepped up its public relations activities in Turkey following the damage to its image caused by the collapse of manufacturer BYD’s planned investment in the country.
The Chinese electric vehicle company in June said they had paused work on a plant in Turkey while prioritising production in Europe.
BYD’s apparent change of course was a major embarrassment for the Turkish government. To attract the company, Ankara granted generous tax breaks on BYD vehicle sales in Turkey even before construction of the plant had begun.
Thanks to those incentives, combined with a new commercial strategy, BYD’s sales in Turkey surged to more than 45,000 vehicles in 2025.
Experts estimate that the company may already have earned between $500m and $1bn in additional profits from the Turkish market as a result of those tax advantages.
“The collapse of the BYD deal put China’s image in Turkey in a precarious position,” one Turkish government consultant told Middle East Eye. “They are now engaged in a propaganda blitz to turn the tide.”
The consultant said Ankara had grown tired of Chinese negotiating tactics, which he described as creating the impression that an agreement had been reached, only for Beijing to reopen negotiations later with an expanding list of demands.
The public relations campaign has been apparent to those who closely follow China’s activities in Turkey.
The Chinese embassy in Ankara has been placing unsigned propaganda articles in pro-government media outlets, highlighting the importance of high-level engagement between the Chinese Communist Party and Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The embassy has also promoted the launch of Volume Five of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China across government-aligned media.
Propaganda blitz
Nurettin Akcay, an academic specialising in Chinese affairs, said the BYD crisis had undoubtedly contributed to negative sentiment towards China in Turkey.
“Although there has recently been a significant quantitative increase in China’s public diplomacy activities in Turkey, such efforts have actually been under way for a long time,” he told MEE.
“Even before the BYD issue erupted, the Chinese were inviting journalists and other individuals regarded as opinion leaders in Turkey to visit China.”
Turkey and China have had an uneasy relationship over the past decade, largely because of the Uyghur issue. Until 2020, Ankara sought to minimise Turkish media coverage of the suffering of Uyghurs in the hope of securing Chinese investment.
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At Beijing’s request, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited the Uyghur-majority Xinjiang Autonomous Region in June 2024 in an attempt to remove one of the main obstacles to bilateral relations.
However, promised investments in electric vehicle plants by BYD and Chinese automobile manufacturer Chery have yet to materialise, despite lengthy negotiations since the visit.
Akcay’s social media posts tracking Chinese lobbying efforts in Turkey have also placed him under scrutiny in China, where he completed his PhD at Shanghai University.
In a separate post on X, Akcay said Shanghai University had emailed him to say it had received numerous complaints about his critical reporting on China.
“For this reason, they asked me to stop referring to the fact that I completed my PhD at Shanghai University,” he said.
“Additionally, as far as I understand, the doors to China are closing on me for good. I don’t know if they will ever let me back into China.”
Akcay said China was focusing on what he calls “elite engagement”, which includes inviting prominent figures to the country as part of a form of showcase diplomacy that presents a carefully curated image of China.
Last month, the Turkey-China Friendship Foundation, a Chinese state-funded entity, organised an eight-day press junket for Turkish journalists working for opposition media outlets. They were taken to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, home to a large Uyghur population.
None of the journalists, who were affiliated with T24, Halk TV, Cumhuriyet, Haberturk TV and several independent outlets, reported on allegations of mistreatment of Uyghurs. Instead, they focused on “terrorist” attacks carried out by radicals in the region and on China’s integration efforts.
The Turkish reports used similar language, with some repeating the same concepts almost verbatim. They highlighted the region’s importance to China’s industrial revival and the Belt and Road Initiative, while presenting tourism as an increasingly important part of Xinjiang’s development plans.
No accountability
Human Rights Watch said in its 2026 report that Chinese authorities had tightened ideological controls over the previous year while continuing the harsh, forced assimilation of Tibetans and Uyghurs.
“There has been no accountability for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where several hundred thousand Uyghurs remain unjustly imprisoned,” the report said.
Since 2017, China has placed hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in “re-education camps”, demolished mosques and Islamic cemeteries, and banned religious education.
“Everything is planned, and China gets precisely what it wants because visitors are shown only what they are intended to see,” Akcay said.
“Consequently, journalists who visit China encounter a positive picture without fully understanding the broader context.”
China’s recent attempts to influence Turkish public opinion have also included outreach to opposition parties, such as the Islamist-conservative New Welfare Party and the Turkish nationalist Victory Party.
A delegation from the New Welfare Party visited China in June, while Chinese Ambassador Jiang Xuebin met the party’s chairman, Fatih Erbakan, last month.
Akcay said China had begun cultivating good relations with virtually all of Turkey’s opposition parties.
“I believe the Uyghur issue is once again a major factor behind China’s interest in Turkish opposition parties of all sizes,” he said.
He added that right-wing opposition parties in Turkey could speak relatively freely about the Uyghur issue because it appealed to their voter bases.
“China is seeking to minimise domestic criticism within Turkey - or at least prevent such criticism from developing into radical campaigns - by pursuing a broad engagement strategy,” he said.
“Is China successful? In my view, at least partially, yes. It may not completely transform public perceptions, but it is pursuing an effective strategy to prevent the emergence of a radical counter-campaign.”
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Çinli elektrikli otomobil üreticisi BYD, Türkiye pazarında ciddi bir satış düşüşü ile karşı karşıya kaldı. Temmuz ayında yalnızca 17 araç satmayı başaran marka, Ocak-Temmuz döneminde toplamda 6 bin 754 satış gerçekleştirerek BEV pazarındaki payını yüzde 7,23'e çekti.
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