Spain calls for EU to forge China policy without US
Spain calls for EU to forge China policy without US
cross-posted from: https://thelemmy.club/post/23034817
Spain calls for EU to forge China policy without US https://archive.is/20250224180421/https://www.ft.com/content/65abc8b2-d290-490c-b143-3f98e116124e
this is a no brainer to be fair
The comments made by Spain are pretty clear about having a friendlier stance regarding China. By supporting Russia China is activly threatening EU security and that makes a friendly China policy not a reasonable option right now.
By supporting Russia, the US is actively threatening EU security and that makes a friendly US policy not a reasonable option right now.
Right now the US is threatening invasion of a part of Europe. The only reasonable option right now is going at it alone. Try to carve out our place in the world as Europeans. That entails forging a new China and US policy. China is a smaller threat that the US right now and by dealing with them, we could influence their policy towards Russia.
As China is increasing its influence mostly economically it would have more of an interest in EU security, to secure its economic activities.
I think the EU should not be opposed to good economic ties with China, but has to be careful with not getting economically too dependent on China and needs to reduce already existing dependencies.
What kind of dependencies are you thinking about?
For instance rare earths, battery technology, solar cells, microchips.
Oh. That’s a lot. Resources, knowledge and products.
How are we going to do this?
For example, what is Europe supposed to do if it doesn’t have as much rare earths in their territory as they would like to refine? And at the same time not become too (whenever that threshold is reached) dependant on someone who has?
The EU is already investing to build a locl chip industry, catching up on the failings of the past. In regards to rare earth medals it is difficult. China practically cornered that market. These metals are not so much rare in the sense that you dont find them, but rather they are only in the minerals in small quantitities. So you need to chew through a lot of ground, which has severe impacts on the local environment.
Oh man, I want to get off this ride