Based on the background of the United States' frequent moves against China in the economic field, many people regard the successive visits to China by Dutch Prime Minister Rutte and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other European politicians in the past period of time as a kind of weather vane, believing that the EU is proving to China with concrete actions that they attach importance to cooperation with China. However, no one expected that the EU would suddenly turn its face on China in recent days. #军史观察团#
According to the global network, recently, the European Union raided a Chinese company. The rationale is that they believe the company may have received so-called market-distorting foreign subsidies. The EU has also used this reason for China's electric car shots. The difference is that this time the EU has taken a significantly more brutal and unreasonable approach, and it has taken discriminatory measures directly against the Chinese companies concerned without even any communication with China.
Judging from the results, it is clear that the European side did not find the so-called evidence, otherwise they would have disclosed it to the outside world a long time ago. However, China will obviously not allow the EU's egregious acts. In this regard, the Chinese Mission to the EU immediately expressed its dissatisfaction and protest against this. If the European side cannot give an explanation to the Chinese side, the confidence of Chinese enterprises in investing in the European market will be greatly reduced. The trade volume between China and the EU in 2023 will exceed 700 billion US dollars, and if China-EU economic and trade cooperation is affected by some improper measures by the European side, the European side will also pay huge losses.
We speculate that there should be three reasons why the EU is taking action against Chinese companies at this time.
First of all, most of it has to do with the United States. The timing of the EU's surprise inspection of Chinese companies coincided with the passage of a new aid bill for Ukraine by the United States. Previously, Italy and Germany and other EU countries have expressed their support for China's role in promoting Russia-Ukraine peace talks. At this time, the EU is somewhat similar to using China as a bargaining chip to force the United States to act. So when the United States is willing to pay money to support Ukraine, the EU's attitude towards China has changed.
Secondly, the European Parliament and some EU member states will also hold general elections this year, and their approach to Chinese companies cannot be ruled out as following the Biden administration to pull votes. It is an indisputable fact that Western countries regard the "China card" as politically correct. The difference may lie in the fact that the EU does not want to undermine the results of Scholz and others' previous visits to China, so it has not taken more radical measures like the United States. From the EU's point of view, they can show a tough side by brutally investigating Chinese companies, and as long as there are no problems with the findings, they don't have to take further action to avoid provoking China.
Finally, in the end, the EU is still the same as the United States, and they are becoming less and less confident in the face of China. Such an approach is also a manifestation of EU protectionism. Their so-called market-distorting subsidies and overcapacity are all designed to limit the export of Chinese products to Europe and thus ensure a competitive advantage for local companies.
However, the EU's approach is clearly a palliative rather than a cure. China has never been a threat to the EU, both in terms of security and economy. For example, on the issue of Russia and Ukraine, the United States' military assistance to Ukraine will obviously only make the situation more tense. By contrast, if the EU firmly supports China's mediation, it will obviously be more helpful to help them mitigate the risks they face on security issues. The same is true for economic and trade cooperation, if the EU always refuses to accept and learn from the objective advantages of Chinese products in terms of cost and technology, their local enterprises will only keep moving. In particular, once China-EU economic and trade cooperation encounters a major crisis, it is always ordinary Europeans who will ultimately bear the consequences such as rapid price increases.
Of course, judging by the actual situation, the EU also seems to have left itself a way out. The day after the EU's surprise inspection of Chinese companies, China welcomed a special guest.
According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó, who visited China, on the 24th. There are two main reasons why Szijjártó's identity is special. First, although Hungary is a member of both the European Union and NATO, the country has always been relatively friendly in its China policy. And this identity also makes the country play a role as the lubricant of Sino-European relations in many cases. Second, in the second half of this year, Hungary will have another layer of status, and will assume the rotating presidency of the European Union. In a sense, Hungary's next foreign claims represent the European Union.
Since Hungary is friendly to China and will be able to speak in the future, Foreign Minister Wang Yi also spoke thoroughly about China-EU relations in the presence of Szijjártó, hoping that during the Hungarian presidency, it will play a positive role in the mutually beneficial cooperation and sustained and stable development of China-EU relations. In other words, there are some obstacles and murmurs between China and the EU, but as long as the EU can take action, we are willing to work with the EU to remove these obstacles. In this regard, Szijjártó promised that Hungary would promote the development of EU-China relations.
In general, we still hope that the EU will keep its promises. Otherwise, not every time a friendly faction like Hungary is sent to lubricate Sino-European relations, it will be effective.