In a report published on Sunday 8 March, the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) proposes a new reading of EU-China relations, which aims to exploit Beijing’s weaknesses and the slowdown in its economic growth, focusing on the preservation and creation of “technological chokepoints”.
Moving away from the usual triptych of seeing China as a competitor, a rival, and an ally of the EU, the authors, Tim Rühlig and Alicia Garcia-Herrero, envisage a new four-pillar approach.
They are banking on: - a “targeted” industrial policy, combined with export controls and a review of outward investment; - diversification as a ‘default’ risk reduction strategy; - effective deployment of the EU’s anti-coercion instrument; - diplomacy with “realistic but significant” demands to safeguard the EU’s fundamental interests.
With regard to this anti-coercion instrument, the report recommends reducing the investigation phase required before its implementation, but also reversing the current Member State approval rule, which consists of approving, by qualified majority, the activation of the anti-coercion instrument, rather than blocking it.
The report: https://aeur.eu/f/l3b (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)