EU Commission chief argues for new EU-China ties based on ‘transparency, predictability, reciprocity’ - Anadolu Ajansı
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EU Commission chief argues for new EU-China ties based on ‘transparency, predictability, reciprocity’
BRUSSELS
The European Union has prepared a new economic security strategy to avoid “leakage” of sensitive technology to China, the EU Commission chief said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Ursula von der Leyen revealed that the European Commission will soon present a new economic security strategy and develop new tools to avoid “the leakage of emerging and sensitive technologies through investments in other countries.”
She said she traveled to China last week to bring a “clear message” to Beijing and to avoid “miscommunication” about their relationship.
Von der Leyen stressed the bloc needs a new China strategy as “China has changed, Europe has changed.”
“We do not want to cut economic societal, political, and scientific ties,” with the country, she said.
But as part of the EU’s “economic de-risking” strategy, the bloc should strengthen its own resilience, von der Leyen said, citing the provision of critical materials, pharmaceutical products, and semiconductor technology as examples.
She further said the EU should become “bolder and better in using our existing trade defense instruments.”
In addition, the EU executive body is currently working on an “instrument on outbound investment for a very small number but very sensitive technologies” to protect cutting-edge technologies.
Von der Leyen also warned that the EU-China relationship must be rebalanced “on the basis of transparency, predictability, and reciprocity” so that “trade in goods and services remains mutually beneficial.”
According to von der Leyen, China must “respect the level playing field” when giving access to European companies to the Chinese market, and become more transparent about subsidies and comply with intellectual property rights.
The EU must be also aware of other security risks, “particularly in the context of China’s explicit fusion of its military and commercial sectors,” she further said.
@Abdul Rehman Majeed
France and EU have dumped US and have deicded to parner with China.
EU no longer supports the US on China.
Macron says Europe must not be 'follower' of US, China on Taiwan
Issued on: 09/04/2023 - 15:58
French President Emmanuel Macron (R) met Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a three-day state visit last week © NG Han Guan / POOL/AFP
2 min
Paris (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview published Sunday that Europe must not be a "follower" of either the US or China on Taiwan, saying that the bloc risks entanglement in "crises that aren't ours".
His comments risk riling Washington and highlight divisions in the European Union over how to approach China, as the US steps up confrontation with its closest rival and Beijing draws closer to Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
"The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must be followers and adapt ourselves to the American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction," Macron told media including French business daily Les Echos and Politico as he returned Friday from a three-day state visit to Beijing.
Citing his prized ideal of EU "strategic autonomy", the French leader said that "we must be clear where our views overlap with the US, but whether it's about Ukraine, relations to China or sanctions, we have a European strategy."
"We don't want to get into a bloc versus bloc logic," he added, saying Europe "should not be caught up in a disordering of the world and crises that aren't ours".
China views democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to take it one day, by force if necessary.
Angered by Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen's meeting last week with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Beijing launched massive military exercises around the island immediately after Macron departed for France, including simulated strikes on its territory.
'Ambiguity'
Macron discussed Taiwan with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday, during a visit in which he was feted but more hawkish EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was kept mostly at arm's length.
His Elysee Palace office said the talks had been "dense and frank" and that the French president was concerned about "growing tensions in the region" that could lead to "a terrible accident".
Macron was "simply talking about the risk of Chinese 'overreaction', forgetting China wishes to change the status quo by taking over Taiwan one way or the other," Antoine Bondaz of the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) commented on Twitter.
"Why this desire never to recall we have an interest in maintaining stability?" he added, warning that "this ambiguity... instils doubt in our like-minded partners".
Taiwan island was just one area that risked "an acceleration of tensions breaking out between the duopoly" of China and the US, Macron said.
If the confrontation escalates too quickly, Europeans "won't have the time or the resources to finance our strategic autonomy and will become vassals, whereas we can build a third pole if we have a few years," he added.
Europe's emergence as an independent geostrategic player has been a goal of Macron's for years, in line with a tradition going back to Fifth Republic founding president Charles de Gaulle who saw France as a balancing power between the Cold War blocs.
© 2023 AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview published Sunday that Europe must not be a "follower" of either the US or China on Taiwan, saying that the bloc risks entanglement in "crises that…
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