The top level of the European Commission is now increasingly like a spokesman for United States interests. According to the Observer, the European Commission turned its "gun" at China's mechanical and electrical products after hacking China's electric vehicles. In April, the EU used the Foreign Subsidies Regulation to launch a countervailing investigation against Chinese wind turbine suppliers involved in wind power projects in France, Spain and other countries. At that time, China made clear its opposition, but the EU did not take it seriously, and at the end of June it expanded the scope of the investigation to include wind power projects in Germany and other member states. This means that more Chinese companies will face targeted repression from the EU and may eventually have to withdraw from European projects.
Von der Leyen and Biden
In the face of the EU's intensification, China began to strike back. According to CCTV news, in mid-June, the China Chamber of Commerce for the Export of Machinery and Electronic Products submitted an application. After receiving the application, the Ministry of Commerce issued a notice on July 10 announcing that it would conduct a trade and investment barrier review of the EU's investigation of Chinese companies under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.
As we all know, China has always acted steadily, and the announcement shows that there is enough evidence to support it. Moreover, the EU's Foreign Subsidies Regulation is itself a trade protection tool against China. On the surface, the bill aims to make the EU's investment climate more equitable. But in fact, this is the EU's use of administrative means to set up cards for Chinese enterprises to invest and operate in Europe under the guise of countervailing investigations when local enterprises lack market competitiveness.
Commerce
The European Commission has very broad discretion over the determination of "foreign subsidies" in this law, and the subjective will of the Commission's top management will dictate the outcome of the investigation. This not only exceeds the norms of the WTO, but also violates the principle of legal certainty in the EU Charter. At present, almost all of the investigations initiated by the European Commission under this law are focused on Chinese companies, which is obviously discriminatory. Therefore, the Chinese side is following the process in accordance with laws and regulations.
It is worth mentioning that Germany, which was still talking about how important the Chinese market is two days ago, not only echoed the EU's invocation of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation to investigate Chinese companies, but also took the initiative to attack China and launched an investigation against Huawei. According to the Observer Network, citing Hong Kong media reports on July 11, Germany Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Habeck expressed "concern" about Chinese companies' participation in Germany's wind power projects on the grounds of so-called "data security", which is undoubtedly cooperating with the European Commission to suppress the development of China's mechanical and electrical industry in the European market. On the same day, Germany's Interior Ministry also announced that it would ask Germany's major 5G telecom operators to completely remove Huawei components from their core networks by the end of 2026, citing so-called "security risks".
Habeck
In both cases, Germany made the excuse of "security risks", which is exactly the same as that of United States. However, the United States and the West have been hyping up for so long, and so far they have not come up with any evidence to support their absurd claims. Germany's approach is particularly ironic. At the beginning, Snowden exposed that United States had been spying on the mobile phone of then-Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel for a long time, and the person who led the matter was Biden, who was still vice president at the time. Now, instead of learning from the lessons, Germany's ruling coalition is also targeting Huawei.
Regarding Germany's approach, the mainland embassy in Germany clearly responded that Germany's move is naked political discrimination, which will seriously damage Sino-German mutual trust and affect future Sino-German cooperation in related fields. Germany's announcement of this policy on the occasion of the NATO summit has made China seriously doubt the independence of its decision-making. In addition, the Chinese side also reminded the Germany government that it will not only affect the normal economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, but also affect the investment confidence of foreign investors in Germany, and China will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.
Sino-German relations
The Chinese side put it very bluntly this time, and the Germany government's actions are in the eyes of the Chinese side to show loyalty to the United States. In addition, at present, Sino-European trade relations are tense, and Germany, as one of the most important stakeholders, does not release positive signals, but intensifies the destruction of the atmosphere of Sino-German and Sino-European economic and trade cooperation, which is undoubtedly selling its own interests to serve the selfish interests of United States hegemony. This is enough to see that in Germany now, we cannot expect too much.