In the end, ‘decoupling’ from China is exactly what is called for, but if you’re watching for movement from the EU, Don’t expect too much to change too ...
Before she became president of the EU Commission (essentially the EU’s top bureaucrat), Ursula von der Leyen was a notably unsuccessful German defense minister, so it would be unfair to expect too much from her.
All the same, these comments (reported in the Guardian) seem a bit late.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has called on Europe to reassess its diplomatic and economic relations with China before a visit to Beijing next week with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
Europe needed to have “a clear-eyed picture on what the risks are”, she said in a wide-ranging speech in Brussels, noting that EU-China relations had become “more distant and more difficult” in recent years as China moved into “a new era of security and control” and ramped up “policies of disinformation and economic and trade coercion”.
Von der Leyen and Macron are expected to meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Wednesday, after the French president invited her to join a trip in order to present a united European front.
Still, better late than never.
Then again:
But to preserve Europe’s economic interests — €1.9bn (£1.68bn) a day in goods trade — Von der Leyen said it was not in the continent’s interest to decouple from China. “Our relations are not black or white — and our response cannot be either. This is why we need to focus on de-risking — not de-coupling.”
Ah.
The problem, of course, is that that distinction is not so easily made. The greater the economic entanglement between the EU and China, even in “non-strategic” goods, the greater the unwillingness to take the sort of actions that the rising challenge from China calls for. In the end — and this is true of the U.S. as well as the EU — “decoupling” is exactly what is called for. It won’t be easy, but it should be the direction of travel.
As for strategic goods:
The commission was considering imposing restrictions on European hi-tech companies investing in China, if there was a risk that European capital and expertise could aid China’s military, affect human rights or European security. Such a “defensive tool”, she said, would affect sectors such as microelectronics, quantum computing, robotics, AI and biotech.
“Considering.”
To be fair, there are limits, given the structure of the EU, as to how much the Commission can insist that the EU’s member-states change course, thus the next paragraph in the Guardian’s report:
She urged EU member states, which have traditionally have been divided on China, to be bolder and faster in using existing investment and export controls and more assertive in enforcement.
Translation: Don’t expect too much to change too soon.