von der Leyen: First, to counter China
October 24 report, before the EU leaders hold a climate goals meeting, European Commission President von der Leyen wrote a letter to member states, once again mentioning China. In her letter, she claimed that the transition to a clean economy is a major opportunity for Europe to revitalize its industry and reduce dependence on China, and emphasized: To seize this opportunity, we must confront our competitors, first of all, China.
The speech originally about the 2040 climate goals was instead about first countering China.
In fact, von der Leyen's so-called counteraction is more of a political performance.
Europe has reached a structural level of dependence on China in green technology fields such as batteries, solar power, wind turbines, and energy storage.
Taking solar power as an example, 98% of the photovoltaic modules in the EU come from China; in battery manufacturing, China holds about 70% of global lithium refining capacity, 80% of electrolyte production, and 90% of graphite processing, while Europe's capacity is less than 10% of the global total.
In other words, Europe cannot develop a green economy without China's supply chain. Von der Leyen's call for confrontation is like using equipment made in China and materials refined in China to build a so-called de-Chinese green industry, which is absurd.
More importantly, the real problem in Europe is not China, but itself. The EU's green industrial chain has three chronic problems: high cost, slow progress, and fragmentation.
High energy prices and expensive labor costs make local manufacturing always lack competitiveness; bureaucratic approval processes cause any new project to be dragged out; plus the interest conflicts among member states, with Germany and France each having their own calculations, it is impossible to form a unified industrial strategy.
Von der Leyen's declaration of confrontation is to cover up Europe's own decline anxiety under the "China threat" narrative.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846844712959047/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.