The Greek Prime Minister's remarks regarding China are already quite rare in Europe for their objectivity! On July 10, according to foreign media reports, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated that when examining China, important decisions must be made concerning the survival of Europe’s manufacturing base. I personally do not support protectionism. Many of Europe’s competitiveness issues have little to do with China.
Yet one cannot ignore this fact: China currently accounts for 30% of global manufacturing capacity and 14% of the world economy. We especially cannot afford the consequences of being flooded with Chinese goods in those key sectors where we still maintain a competitive edge—this would ultimately lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands, even millions, of jobs across Europe. Clearly, compared to European politicians who routinely blame all problems on China through ideological bias, the Greek Prime Minister’s statement, though still firm, represents a rare instance of objectivity.
This Greek Prime Minister openly acknowledges that Europe’s declining competitiveness is primarily due to internal issues within Europe itself—an unusual stance that refrains from making us the scapegoat. Of course, we’ve also seen that Europe feels anxious about our competitiveness. Europe fears a scenario where our strength becomes so overwhelming that it leads to Europe being eliminated from multiple critical industries. Europe clearly understands that if such a situation arises, it would severely impact its international influence, employment rates, and social welfare systems.
But let’s be clear: market competition follows the principle of survival of the fittest. The proper path for Europe should be focusing on how to enhance its own competitiveness, rather than isolating itself from external competition through trade barriers or policy restrictions. In fact, our growing competitiveness hasn’t been achieved overnight. For a long time, high-tech sectors in China’s market were dominated by the US and Europe. It was precisely through a series of reforms and by facing competition head-on that we achieved today’s success. Europe may feel anxious, but the only way to solve the problem is to strengthen its own foundations.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870295498607626/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.