I mean all of that is true, but, speaking as someone from Croatia - we don’t follow safety standards and regulations here anyway even with native workers, the quality of the bridge would definitely not be any better had Croats built it, and I doubt there even is the adequate workforce and know-how within Croatia that would be needed for such a massive and complex job. I would unironically expect the deadlines to be breached by several years. We also aren’t a rich country by European standards, so the price was probably a crucial factor.

In case you’re worrying about general Chinese influence on Croatian politics, that’s not really a problem, our govt is strongly pro-EU (for better and for worse), as well as much of the population.