Unsurprisingly, China has little sympathy for Europe’s plan to revise the architecture of its Cybersecurity Act (CSA) (see EUROPE 13790/1). In an opinion on the CSA sent to the Commission on 17 April, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce argued that the proposal “introduces a highly subjective and arbitrary ‘non-technical risk’ in the name of cybersecurity and supply chain security”.
Beijing is particularly concerned about the possibility for the Commission and Member States to impose restrictions, or even de facto exclusion, on certain suppliers or equipment manufacturers for reasons of national and transnational security (see EUROPE 13850/8).
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce states that “it politicises trade and economic issues and overstretches the concept of security”. Beijing claims that the proposal “violates the fundamental principles of the WTO” and several trade agreements, that it “exceeds the EU’s legal mandate” and that it could “seriously damage economic and trade relations between China and the EU”.
China wants the EU to abandon or review the principle of bans and restrictive measures. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)