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112
China’s rising industrial strength leaves EU fretting about its manufacturing future (www.irishtimes.com)
submitted 1 day ago by schizoidman@lemmy.zip to c/europe@feddit.org
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https://archive.is/c5tDr

“We’re talking about losing significant parts of the automotive sector and its supply chains, pressure on machine tools, chemicals, the wind industry in Europe that could be wiped out in the next couple of years. I think there’s just more and more concern about the fact that in all of these sectors, China is moving into a dominant or even monopolistic position,” says Andrew Small, director of the Asia programme at the European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR) in Berlin.

Some in Brussels thought Trump’s return to the White House could help to facilitate a reset in the EU-China relationship. But while Europe’s reliance on the US for security meant that the EU had to roll over when Trump threatened tariffs, China refused to bend, and its tough strategy has so far been successful.

“I think what became clear from the Chinese end was that the view would rather be that Europe is in a weaker position as a result of the situation in the transatlantic ties, and Europe needs to be the one to give things up. That’s what we’ve seen pretty much since then,” says Small.

China’s dominant position in some manufacturing sectors offers leverage of its own, as the Dutch government discovered last September when it seized control of Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chip manufacturer. Beijing retaliated by blocking exports of Nexperia chips

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[–] Sepia@mander.xyz 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

the Chinese economy has grown by about 30 per cent over the past five years

Not even Chinese economists believe China's official GDP growth rates of 5% annually. This is rubbish.

the EU had to roll over when Trump threatened tariffs, China refused to bend, and its tough strategy has so far been successful.

There are several economic reports that say the exact opposite. One analysis from April 2025 says that US tariffs with retaliation by other countries will shrink the EU's GDP by -0.05 percent and China's GDP by -0.27 percent.

The EU-US agreement that has been reported as unfavorable for Europe was, indeed, a joke. This was not a deal at all as it was not even legally binding. For example, we see now that the EU is not even remotely buying US energy for the 'agreed' 250 billion dollars but just a small fraction of it (a fact that all analysts have always been predicting). The only thing where the EU gave in was when it ditched the import tariffs for agricultural products from the US. Sounds impressive and weak - until you hear that these agri tariffs were in the range of 1-2 % on average. That's next to nothing.

These are just two points out of this very weak article. Not that I contradict everything, but what the author here does is simply conveying Chinese narratives (and he does only that). It would be good if he read other stats and reports rather than just the Chinese ones.

[Edit typo.]

[–] schizoidman@lemmy.zip -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Sepia@mander.xyz 9 points 1 day ago

This is based on official numbers. According to these, the Chinese economy is always doing great. There was never a downturn, it's always growing, and always by around 5%. Because this annual rate is needed to achieve Xi Jinping's long-term growth target.

Don't say something else if and when you are in China, though, or if you would like to do business in China, and Goldman Sachs has a strong presence there, it's one of the few Western banks with a license for fund sales in China, for example.

In 2024, Zhu Hengpeng, a renowned Chinese economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, expressed doubt of China's 5% annual growth, claiming the growth to be much lower. He disappeared then for some months. (In the meantime he is back again working for the academy, but he is now convinced that the 5% is the number to be announced, at least that's what he is doing).

I could tell you a lot more, but I know I can save my breath. You wouldn't believe anyway. Your post history's spin tells clearly that you are not interested in independent information.