Partner, competitor – and increasingly rival: Commission chief von der Leyen announces new security measures against China before her visit to Beijing with French President Macron.
The line of the European Union towards the People’s Republic of China, which has been clearly hardening for four years, will soon experience 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, expertise and knowledge are not used to bolster the military and intelligence capabilities of those who we also see as systemic rivals,” von der Leyen said in her speech at the China Research Institute Merics of the German 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 relocated to countries like China by way of investments. “For this reason, we are currently considering whether and how Europe should develop a targeted instrument for investing abroad. It would affect a small number of sensitive technologies where investments can lead to the development of military capabilities that pose a threat to national security.”