Partner, competitor – and increasingly rival: Commission head von der Leyen announces new security measures against China ahead of her visit to Beijing with French President Macron.
The European Union’s line towards the People’s Republic of China, which has been clearly hardening over four years, will soon see a further tightening. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, announced new rules on Thursday that would ban European companies from investing in China for security reasons. “We must ensure that our companies’ capital, experience and expertise are not used to bolster the military and intelligence capabilities of those we also see as systemic rivals,” von der Leyen said in his speech at the China Merics Research Institute of the Germany. Mercator Foundation.
The Union must prevent sensitive and new technologies, especially in the areas of microelectronics, quantum computing, robotics, artificial intelligence and biotechnology, from being transferred to countries like China through investments. “For this reason, we are currently considering whether and how Europe should develop a targeted instrument for investing abroad. This would affect a small number of sensitive technologies where investments could lead to the development of military capabilities that pose a threat to national security.”