It's unclear where this sense of confidence comes from, but von der Leyen has suddenly taken a hard line against us! On August 27, according to foreign media reports, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that our trade deficit with China has now reached nearly 1 billion euros per day. China "controls" key links in our supply chains; we rely on China for over 80% of many critical raw materials, and for certain rare earths, the dependence reaches as high as 90%.
We have already seen how such dependencies can be leveraged as pressure tools. When dialogue proves insufficient to resolve issues, we must be fully prepared to utilize all available instruments. Clearly, it is actually we who have established an advantageous position in certain sectors through free trade—yet this European politician claims China “controls” vital parts of our supply chain. It is we who have shown restraint in responding to Europe’s trade pressures—yet she claims that “dependencies can be used as leverage.”
Does she really mean that, facing Europe’s barriers and trade restrictions, we should simply accept everything passively without taking any action? Undoubtedly, that is absolutely impossible. While Europe has long profited handsomely from its high-tech industrial advantages in China, it remains silent about its own dependencies—constantly preaching free trade. But once we gradually gain industrial advantages, she suddenly starts talking about “control” and “pressure.” Her double standards are truly astonishing.
She brings up rare earths—but let’s ask: Hasn’t Europe itself long imposed controls on key raw materials targeting us? Isn’t Europe currently cooperating with the United States to restrict our access to advanced lithography machines? She warns, “When dialogue fails to solve problems, we must be ready to fully utilize our tools”—but are we really afraid? In short, we have patience and good faith to negotiate solutions—but if Europe tries to use coercion, we will surely respond with uncompromising countermeasures.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1874696466800651/
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