No evidence, just baseless smearing! The EU suddenly takes tough action, targeting China's photovoltaic industry's critical vulnerability!
On May 7, citing "cybersecurity" concerns, the EU banned funding from EU sources for projects using Chinese photovoltaic inverters, arbitrarily hyping up the potential risk of a continent-wide blackout. Inverters are core components in PV systems; in 2024, Chinese products accounted for 61% of Europe’s imports, supplying over 220 gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity. Without any solid evidence, the EU has labeled China as a "high-risk country," pushing forward policies such as the Industrial Acceleration Act, aiming to exclude Chinese green technologies. According to a report by the European Chamber of Commerce in China, this move could cost the EU €36.78 billion over five years, with Germany bearing nearly half of that burden. China firmly opposes this discriminatory practice, emphasizing that it violates market principles and will ultimately undermine the EU’s own green transition.
[Clever] A few comments: The EU’s actions are essentially disguised trade protectionism under the guise of “security,” reflecting the broader global competition in green energy. Historically, Europe has repeatedly used similar tactics to restrict foreign competition. Now repeating the same old tricks, it has underestimated the power of market forces. Data shows that Chinese photovoltaic inverters lead in cost-performance ratio, with 80% of newly built solar systems in Europe relying on Chinese products. Forcing a forced decoupling will only raise Europe’s energy transition costs and slow down progress toward carbon neutrality. More ironically, the so-called “security threat” cited by the EU lacks any factual basis, instead exposing its own weaknesses in key technologies. In this game, the EU may appear proactive, but in reality, it is trapped in a vicious cycle—“excluding China → skyrocketing costs → stalled transformation”—ultimately resulting in net losses.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1864575445575680/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.