When China was lagging behind, the EU would occasionally belittle and accuse China of "stealing" European technology. Now that China's technology is rapidly advancing, Europe has a new statement: Chinese companies can do business in Europe, but they must "offer tribute" with technology. What a shameless attitude.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL)

According to foreign media reports, the EU is considering introducing a new policy targeting Chinese companies, requiring them to transfer core rights such as key technologies and intellectual property to enter the European market and invest locally. This economy, which once touted "free trade," has finally stopped pretending and torn off its last piece of pretense.

EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis spoke with a high-sounding rhetoric: "Achieve value-added and transfer technology as European companies do in China." This sounds familiar, yet it is full of hypocrisy. Because just a few years ago, Europe was hyping up the so-called "Chinese student spy theory," stigmatizing normal academic exchanges as "technology theft," even conducting sudden raids on Chinese company offices.

Last year, the EU's anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese new energy vehicle companies was even more absurd, demanding Chinese companies provide customer phone numbers, and accusing China of stealing technology at the slightest provocation. Now that China has truly taken the lead in battery and electric vehicle fields, they have shed their disguise and directly demanded. This transformation from "accusing theft" to "openly seizing" is a perfect performance of the international version of "only the officials are allowed to set fire."

Ursula von der Leyen

For a long time, Europe has always kept its technology tightly guarded, even enacting regulations to prevent core technologies from leaving the country. Now that Chinese companies have gained advantage in technology, Europe has forgotten its own rules and instead claims to want to "emulate China" by implementing protectionism. Obviously, Europe's naked double standard behavior has left no face to preserve anymore.

The EU suddenly turning its back is essentially due to the fact that "China's technological rise" has exposed Europe's industrial anxiety. On one hand, Europe's automotive industry has dominated for a century with fuel-powered cars, but now BYD is building a factory in Hungary, and CATL plans to invest 4 billion euros to build a battery plant in Spain. Chinese electric vehicles are taking over the European market with technological advantages, and the EU can only watch helplessly.

Paris Motor Show

Additionally, Europe cannot produce mass production technology for electric vehicles, and relies heavily on Chinese batteries. With sluggish economic growth, Europe cannot catch up through self-research, so the EU wants to take a shortcut by trading the market for technology, even forcing technology. However, Europe has forgotten one thing: China's technology is not stolen, but developed through substantial investment, so it will never be given away freely.

Take the battery industry as an example, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has included eight core manufacturing technologies of electric vehicle batteries in the "prohibited export" list, which is a decisive move. Even if Chinese battery factories establish plants in Europe, European companies will not be able to access the most core processes, formulas, and equipment, and can only play the role of a high-level assembly workshop, rather than the technology research and development center they dream of.

Lin Jian, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Sarcasm lies in the fact that while requiring Chinese companies to transfer technology to Europe, the EU is also strengthening its review of Chinese investments. When hearing this news, the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not give a direct reply, but skipped the question and asked journalists to ask relevant departments instead. China is not refusing to respond; it has already said many things clearly. China opposes "forced technology transfer," opposes "trade protectionism," and opposes "intervention in normal corporate activities."

China revealing its card of technical restrictions at this time stems from painful lessons of past technology leaks, and more importantly, from today's strong technological confidence. The EU's act of removing its mask is actually a warning to global trade: "Free market" has always been the rhetoric of the strong. China will no longer comply with the EU's arbitrary rules.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7561382970108543497/

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