The Debate | Diplomacy | East Asia

Europe’s China Strategy Is Ready for a Refresh 

EU leaders have an opportunity to stop treating repression as a side issue and instead make human rights more central to their engagement with China.

At the European Council on June 19, EU leaders gave the European Commission a clear mandate to develop additional trade defense instruments to protect its markets against subsidized imports. At the Franco-German Ministerial Council on July 16-17, for the first time after years of division on the issue, France and Germany jointly identified China  as “challenging our economy” and called for the establishment of an EU roadmap to protect European industries against Chinese competition. 

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker summarized it all: “The EU needs to have a strategic reorientation.”    Europe’s responses to Beijing’s long-term industrial planning has deepened Europe’s dependence on its trade with China with a focus on matters like subsidies or overcapacity, market distortions, and unfair competition. However, any shift in Europe’s approach to China needs to elevate human rights.    The truth is that China’s economy and industry are intertwined with the Chinese government’s human rights abuses. State-imposed forced labor, forced labor transfers of Uyghur workers, the prohibition on independent unions, forced land seizures or coerced relocations have all featured in industries key to China’s relationship with Europe, from electric battery production, to solar and renewable energy supply chains, to technology.    Meanwhile, vague criminal offenses, mass surveillance, and pervasive repression allow Chinese authorities not only to silence critics, but also to reshape communities and entire industries with little resistance.    European governments have, in effect, turned a blind eye to these human rights violations as some of Europe’s most important industries sought access to Chinese markets and Chinese suppliers. These include strategic sectors such as automotive or critical raw materials needed for electronic products and batteries.    Furthermore, Beijing has now made it harder for European institutions and companies to scrutinize and respond to its human rights abuses. Coercive practices that primarily targeted Chinese lawyers, activists, and political opponents are now increasingly targeting foreign companies and their staff through extraterritorial measures.    In addition to existing laws restricting cross-border transfer of data and technology by defining vague offenses, Beijing has passed new decrees to prevent foreign companies from pressing for transparency in their supply chains and........

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