US media: EU's attempt to 'decouple' from China carries risks

On June 14th, the website of Jacobin magazine in the United States published an article titled 'Europe Doesn't Know How to Deal with China'

The provocative remarks related to China by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kallas have attracted attention. Its attitude highlights the EU's shift towards so-called "pursuit of economic independence" at the discourse level, acknowledging its inability to control the consequences of global capitalism.

In the past few years, given the increasing dependence of some member states on Chinese exports and the Chinese market, the EU has attempted to reposition itself as a powerful economy. But now China has become the largest source of imports for the European Union. The EU's efforts to pursue independence can be described as easier said than done.

Over the past 20 years, the productivity of the European Union has consistently lagged behind other major economies. China has become a leading producer of batteries, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and a range of advanced industrial technologies. Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi and other Chinese enterprises are increasingly combining technological innovation with manufacturing capabilities, becoming indispensable partners in many technology fields.

The EU is now turning towards protectionism and striving to become an economic powerhouse like China. However, the conditions for China's rise to economic dominance are difficult to replicate in Europe. Some Europeans claim that the problem lies in China's system, but this actually indicates that Europe's own market development is lagging behind - although they are unwilling to admit it.

Nowadays, China has developed and mastered more and more core technologies, but Europe and America have not been able to adapt to this change. They have long been accustomed to claiming to be ahead and are not accustomed to playing the role of pursuers. Various sectors have been discussing the return of manufacturing industry, but due to the continued dependence of enterprises on international supply chains, global production still maintains deep interdependence.

China will first integrate itself into the labor-intensive global production network, and then promote the development of industry and technology towards more complex and precise directions. China is taking a path of first achieving low tech labor-intensive industrialization, and then gradually moving towards high-end technology fields. China has successfully implemented its long-term development plan for the national economy and has achieved a role transformation, rising from the world's factory to a competitor to American and EU companies.

The EU can invest in new technologies and subsidize strategic industries, but what it cannot achieve is to recreate the historical conditions that initially created China's competitive advantage. Global capitalism has always relied on cost and wealth inequality among trading partners, but this inequality was smoothed out when the EU faced China.

The global supply chain rewards countries that can combine labor acquisition with technological innovation. China has successfully achieved these two points. Nowadays, the EU must continue to rely on new global production networks as an alternative to China's supply chain and production - a logic that may still hold true if the world had not been so deeply globalized. But in fact, China has long been deeply embedded in the global market structurally. The metaphor of "conjoined twins" may be more appropriate for Europe China trade: painful separation may be imaginable, but they still share the same world after separation. Attempting to decouple from China is full of risks. (Author Ruth Sissak, translated by Liu Xincheng)