According to a report published by the Observer citing the Hong Kong media "South China Morning Post" on the 29th of this month, the European Commission's investment review plan for China is facing public challenges from within. It is reported that the Federation of Germany Industry, the European branch of the International Semiconductor Industry Association, and the European Business Organization Association, the largest corporate lobby group in Europe, have successively submitted written opinions to the European Commission, clearly pointing out that too strict investment review in China will not ensure economic security, but will also have a negative impact on European research and innovation. The South China Morning Post, citing EU diplomatic sources, said that Lithuania is currently the only country among the EU's 27 member states that "fully supports" the European Commission's plan to review foreign investment.
Lithuania's "solo contradiction" is not surprising, first, neutral relations have not really eased, and second, Lithuania, which only completed the election in the middle of this year, unsurprisingly formed a coalition government, and extremely opposing domestic politics prompted Lithuania's anti-China forces to rush to release a tough posture against China, trying to use it as a bargaining chip to overwhelm competitors, and at the same time in exchange for the favor and support of United States for Lithuania, so Lithuania's decision to support the European Commission is expected.
On the contrary, there are 26 EU member states that are not on the side of the European Commission, which needs our attention, and this situation may be related to the current international situation. First of all, Italy Prime Minister Meloni, who has made a lot of criticisms about the signing of the "Belt and Road" initiative between China and Italy, and finally launched the "Belt and Road" initiative after taking office, is currently leading a delegation to visit China. During the period, he not only held bilateral meetings with high-level officials on the mainland, but also signed a three-year action plan covering a wide range of areas. This is tantamount to a relief for Italy, which is in dire need of external funding and technical support. It is worth mentioning that the European Commission previously proposed to impose temporary tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, and Italy clearly expressed its support.
Now, Meloni not only went to China to attract investment, but also escorted the introduction of Chinese electric vehicles and new energy technologies, showing that Italy's support for the EU's decision on China is false, and it is true to use it as a bargaining chip to fight for more interests for its own country. Combined with the news coming out of the EU, Lithuania's insistence on going its own way actually reflects the eye enthusiasm of the vast majority of EU countries for Meloni's trip.
It is therefore a corollary that the Commission's review of investment plans has been internally isolated and openly challenged. After all, "shared values" cannot help EU countries get out of their current economic woes, only real money and technology can do so. Second, the growing uncertainty caused by the United States election, although the Democratic Party put forward Vice President Harris to run, but this did not reverse the disadvantage of the Democratic Party in the face of Trump. If the November election ends with Trump winning, "Trumpism 2.0" will inevitably make the already low European economy even worse.
In this way, China has once again become a "safe haven" for European capital, and at this time, the intensification of scrutiny of European investment in China will naturally cause a strong backlash, and will also take the initiative to drive Chinese capital out of the European market, which is an absolute bad move for the EU, so it is not surprising that 26 countries have expressed opposition.
What is certain is that in the context of the internal crisis has not been resolved and the external uncertainty continues to increase, the differences within the EU will be magnified exponentially, which will certainly have an impact on China-EU relations, but also give China a chance to "break through". If it can make good use of the months before the United States election, China can dig "nails" into the EU and completely bankrupt "decoupling from China" through further interest bundling.