Dunno, maybe cooperation with neighboring countries and only together setting joint deals with disproportionately larger countries? It’s just as absurd as Poland’s last government single-handedly attempting massive tread deals with USA. Each time smaller European countries attempt that they end up on a leash.
I trust China far more than slovak government. I dont think that these deals with China will go this way, its more like when the other options(real alternatives offered currently) are bad they will get a deal with China. But normatively yes I guess, its just too much to ask of such governments judging by their current failures.
I don’t trust any government, but even less so the less there are checks and feedback loops that limit their control. From my understanding of the Chinese system these are severely limited there, and from what I’m seeing about the Slovak one it’s simply corrupt in the CEE traditional way and leaning on authoritarian. My point is just that relations between small and massive states will never be equal, and if one goes ‘leeroy jenkins’ at it - it’s either painfully stupid or the effect of corruption. Another such case would be Ireland basically writing away all their gas/oil fields rights to Shell, and acting like a tax heaven for whatever IT multinational.
