Thread by @VanberghenEU

Breakfast time late. Reading an interesting article of @gideonrachman about #China. This might be a long #thread.
ft.com/content/05408b…

"Do we want China to fail" Nobody wants to see China fail. The #Ukrainian war & #Covid pandemic have demonstrated the existing limitations & risk of our dependency of #China, it has challenged our abilities to act in line with its interests in an interconnected 🌐. That’s all 1/2

Currently, #China controls a vast majority of those resources, providing Beijing with a powerful tool - export restrictions in a challenging geopolitical context. China will never be poor 1/3.

#Putin’s war & #China’s tacit support of #Russia’s war shows how important is to have a resilient transatlantic economy, including at digital level. 1/4

#China do not rely on a purely market-approach to deploy its technologies. China invests to promote its own competitors (including #EU) in many clean-tech fields, based on a model différent than this found in our democracies! @gideonrachman 1/5

We all know the story of solar industry, where #US and #European companies once led global markets. Shall we say 🙏 to China for its substantial subsidies, forced technology transfer, & predatory pricing? #China produces 3/4 of global supplies. Please let know if I am wrong. 1/6

#US & #EU are dependent on #China for many critical materials. China controls 50–90% of the 🗺 ’s clean energy minerals supply chains, dominant in their processing & refining. In rare earths, China accounts for 98% of EU imports and 80% of US imports. 1/7

#China has greatly expanded its presence in #IndoPacific diplomatically, commercially, & militarily in recent years, including through its #OneBelt, #OneRoad initiative. 1/8

The expansion of #China’s is based on private entities; but the China’s system of government effectively subordinates both state- owned/run & companies to the service of the state & more broadly to close supervision by the Chinese Communist Party. 1/9

There is a risk in terms of digital infrastructure. #China Cyber Administration has outlined the need to develop controls so that ‘the party’s ideas always become the strongest voice in cyberspace’, including enhancing ‘global influence of Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei’ 1/10

#China failing? Chinese poor? No, I do not think so. China has also dramatically scaled up its aid. According to #Lowy Institute research, btw 2006 & 2017 China provided close to US$ 1.5 billion in foreign aid to Pacific Islands region through a mixture of grants and loans. 1/11

According to #China’s own investment statistics, Chinese construction activity in the region was US$ 958 million in 2017, almost six times greater than its foreign aid activities. 1/12

#China’s Belt & Road strategy is #Digital Silk Road Initiative 2015, #DSRI aims to make the 🌐 more dependent on Chinese technology& standards. DSRI aims to strengthen interoperability of critical digital infrastructure: terrestrial, submarine data cables, 5G, data storage 1/13

"Are you comfortable with wanting more than 1.4bn Chinese, many of them still poor - to get poorer?" It would not happen! Even in the worst scenario, there is unlikely to be a scenario where #EU or other major economies can fully substitute their dependency of #China. 1/14

"That is why it is crucial for the US and the EU to be clear-to themselves and others-that their goal is not to prevent China from becoming richer". It will be completly unfair to believe that the scope of a democratic foreign policy is to prevent a country to become richer 1/15

Today in press: #China warns of Covid-19 spread over holiday period as #EU offers China Covid-19 vaccines to help combat outbreak. Meetings of EU to determine the bloc’s joint response to the recent surge in cases in China. No, nobody wants China's collapse! END @AliceFishburn

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