EU Leaders Harden Position on China, Move to Break Technology Dependency

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, center, chairs the weekly College of Commissioners meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels on Sept. 28, 2022. (Virginia Mayo/AP Photo)

Leaders from the European Union jointly expressed trepidation last week about Europe’s increasing economic dependence on China.

The foreign policy service of the EU said in a prepared statement on Oct. 21 that China’s communist leadership should be considered a competitor that’s promoting “an alternative vision of the world order.”

The hardening stance of European leaders against China comes amid increasing concerns that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping is taking the nation in a far more authoritarian direction.

Xi delivered a speech on Oct. 16 in which he vowed to never renounce the use of force against Taiwan, which he claims is part of China, and called for greater security measures in China’s already immense state surveillance apparatus.

He’s now clinched a precedent-breaking third term in power, cementing his rule in the CCP as second in historical importance only to that of Mao Zedong.

EU Leaders Increasingly Wary of CCP

EU leaders have grown increasingly wary of the CCP since February, when Xi announced a “no limits” partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly before the latter ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has forced many leaders in the EU to be more mindful of their nations’ dependencies, as much of Europe’s gas supply came from Russia. EU leaders now believe that they need to form a united front to prevent a similar circumstance from arising with China.

“In the case of China, it is the risk of dependency on technologies and raw materials,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

She noted that the EU learned its lesson from Russia and would work to boost the production capacity of vital technologies and shift supply chains to more trustworthy suppliers.

Speaking outside of a meeting in Brussels, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin spoke similarly, saying that the EU would need to ensure that its supply of critical technologies isn’t held hostage by the CCP in the same way that gas had been held hostage by Russia.

“That doesn’t mean there can’t be any economic relations with China, but it means we shouldn’t be building that kind of strategic and critical dependencies in an authoritarian country,” Marin said. “I think technology is key here. This might not be an issue today, but it certainly will be in the future.”

Marin noted that the EU ought to promote stronger cooperation between democratic countries instead.

CCP Expansion Raises Fears About Port Deals

EU leaders’ discussion of the strategic problems posed by the CCP follows a push in the German government to reconsider some aspects of its trade relationship with China.

Germany’s ruling coalition government is currently considering whether it will allow the Chinese state-owned company Cosco to take partial control of a port terminal in Hamburg, near the coast of the North Sea.

The German government is currently divided on the issue, which has become something of a weathervane for how far Germany may be willing to go in order to toughen up against its largest trading partner.

China has acquired a number of deepwater ports in foreign countries as part of its effort to gain control of global shipping routes and increase the reach of its navy. One such port is in the Solomon Islands. Another is in Greece.

Unlike those two ports, however, the Hamburg deal wouldn’t result in China owning a majority stake in the entire port.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the EU’s previous decisions to allow the sale of vital infrastructure to China were “strategic errors.”

Reuters contributed to this report.