Why China scares the EU into robotics and biotechnology
The Commission's European Economic Security Strategy focuses on China and proposes to control sectors such as robotics and biotechnology. El Pais article
The European Commission does not want the most advanced technologies developed in the European Union to end up in other hands without passing through its control. For this reason it is considering a sort of restriction or limit on the investments that European companies can make in third countries in sectors such as "quantum technology, advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence, 6G, biotechnology and robotics", according to a document that the College of Commissioners will analyze this Tuesday and present after the meeting. This is the new "European economic security strategy" and has China as its target.
The European document seen from El Pais
“The global pandemic, Russia's illegal and unprovoked war in Ukraine, hostile economic actions, infrastructure and cyber attacks, foreign interference, and the global rise in geopolitical tensions have revealed risks and vulnerabilities in our societies, economies and companies that did not exist a few years ago", warns the draft of the joint communication of the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, to which EL PAÍS has had access and which could still undergo some modifications . To address this risk, in recent months the EU has equipped itself with some legal tools to monitor foreign direct investment (a law with a clear target: China) and another to counter economic coercion, a response to commercial aggressions such as the tariffs imposed by the US administration of Donald Trump on European steel and aluminium, which also make sense in the face of the Asian giant.
Now is the time, reads the joint document, to expand these resources for when "new risks need to be faced, for example in relation to exports or foreign investment in a limited set of key technologies with military application (for example, quantum, advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence, 6G, biotechnology, robotics)".
The text to which this journal has had access has been the subject of much discussion, as evidenced by the traces of changes it contains, and has been watered down. It lacks legal propositions and requires deeper analysis. It contains no reference to China, nor is China listed as a threat. There is no mention of the rivalry with the Asian giant in any line of the 16-page document. But his shadow is clearly behind the communication. The text does not single out Beijing, although the focus is clear and EU Chief Executive Ursula von der Leyen heralded the "economic security strategy" in her tough speech on China last March, in which she spoke of "risk reduction" and accused the Asian giant of using tools of "economic trade coercion" to impose its dominance. The EU has also hardened its approach to China and is now emphasizing its "rival" approach.
However, according to EU sources, the strategy aims to protect the European Union – taking into consideration the technology sector, which is crucial for national security – from the risks that could be posed by any country's policies, such as those of the administration by Donald Trump. All this, with next year's election in the United States and the name of the former Republican president as a candidate.
The possibility of activating this investment control, which was also discussed during the meeting of the G7 countries (Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, with the EU represented) in Japan in May – and even the idea of strengthening export scrutiny – has generated internal debate.
The proposal will be sent to the European Council, whose leaders will consider it at a summit later this month, and to the European Parliament. Also in this case the discussion will be heated. It will not be easy for partners like Germany to accept that Brussels has a say in the fate of investments by major German companies. A precedent in this sense, even if in the opposite sense, has already been seen a few months ago with the authorization for Chinese investments in the port of Hamburg: the Berlin government was willing to allow the Asian giant to acquire a very significant percentage (35 % of the country's main port; Brussels did not welcome this; 25% were eventually cleared.
The European strategy indicates two priorities. “Promote our competitiveness, increase the resilience of our economies and our supply chains and enhance innovation and industrial capacity”, reads the communication as the first objective. The second would be to "collaborate with countries that share the EU's concerns on economic security, have common interests and are willing to cooperate".
The economic dependencies of the EU
In the strategy, Brussels underlines the risks for European economies that could even threaten national security: "In some cases, the leak of technology can strengthen the military and intelligence capabilities of those who can use it to undermine peace and security". law in the document, which also underlines the risk of arming the EU's economic dependencies.
The Commission and the High Representative review some of the instruments already used, such as the regulation on the screening of foreign investment in the EU. This regulation “created a cooperation mechanism for Member States and the Commission to exchange information, raise security concerns and identify specific solutions in order to ensure security protection”. Brussels also provides some data on the functioning of this mechanism in recent years: "Since October 2020, the Commission and the Member States have examined more than 1,000 transactions". And finally, it advances its intentions by stating that it is evaluating the current framework and could propose its revision by the end of 2023. Finally, it invites "the Member States that have not yet put in place national control mechanisms to do so without further delay" .
The initiative also refers to the economic anti-coercion instrument, the final form of which was agreed between the European Parliament and the EU Council on 6 June. “Its main objective is to dissuade [third party] countries from restricting or threatening to restrict trade or investment to force changes to legitimate EU policies, but it also provides for the possibility for the EU to take countermeasures as a last resort” , explains the document, underlining that it is a response to the "deliberate pressure exerted on the EU and its member states in recent years". One such pressure was China's sanctions against Lithuania after Taiwan opened a representation in the Baltic country. The EU has brought China's reaction to the sanctions to the World Trade Organization, but such disputes take years to resolve.
In justifying its proposals, the draft strategy explains that other countries and geographical areas are already ahead: “The EU is not alone in this process: countries all over the world have already faced challenges to their economic security. Some advanced economies have already adopted strategies in this direction”.
(Excerpt from the press release of eprcommunication)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/commissione-europea-robotica-biotecnologia/ on Sat, 24 Jun 2023 05:37:29 +0000.