Europe and America disagree on China’s economic independence

The G7 countries want to reduce their dependence on China. The leaders of the seven major economies agreed after a meeting in Japan. “The Americans are in favor of an economic disengagement from China, and only other countries do not support that plan,” says Han den Broek, director of political affairs at The Hague Center for Strategic Studies.

The leaders of India and Brazil also attended the summit, and European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen joined on behalf of the European Union. They also expressed concern about China’s economic influence. “All the raw materials for the energy transition are in China’s hands,” says ten Broeck. ‘For example, dozens of mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo are owned by Chinese companies.’

Hands are twisted

Efforts have been underway for some time to stop the export of high-tech goods to China. Agreements between the US, Japan and the Netherlands, among others, put restrictions on chip machine manufacturer ASML’s exports to China.

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Because of this, the production of chips by the Taiwanese firm TSMC has largely come to a standstill. “That economic pressure may be a direct result of rising tensions, a new Cold War of sorts between the United States and China.” He thinks it’s a good thing that better deals are being made about it now.

Risk elimination

European countries are more cautious about their economic policy with China. So they don’t want to cut off China economically, but want to ‘make fun’ of China. That is, they want to reduce the risks of economic dependence on China. “If we remove the inflationary effect, we can see that the relationship between the US and China has deteriorated economically and financially,” says den Broek.

Ultimately, the G7 countries may take the same kind of measures we’ve seen before. “The Netherlands Heeded Biden’s Request Not to Supply Chip Machines to China, So Biased by the Netherlands.”

Foreign Minister Hoekstra will visit China next week. He had a meeting with his Chinese counterpart. They will talk about easy and difficult topics. This is the first time a Dutch minister has visited China since the Corona virus.