China is bigger, and a lot more ambitious, and is willing to put resources into it.
European countries (except maybe Russia!), in the EU and outside, are very complacent.
European countries (except maybe Russia!), in the EU and outside, are very complacent.
Whereas China not only has a much bigger budget than individual EU countries, but also central planning on a large scale, so they can just "force" things be done, no matter whether people like it or not. China giving 0.01% for such projects is way more money than a small EU country giving the same %. And it's not like they'll vote the party out for a failed project (which happens in EU countries quite often).
Also, curious: did you not like it there and left, or was that a fixed-duration contract or something?