The US envoy to the European Union backed the bloc’s new security strategy that seeks to reduce dependence on China, stressing the need to focus on supply chains and export curbs.
(Bloomberg) — The US envoy to the European Union backed the bloc’s new security strategy that seeks to reduce dependence on China, stressing the need to focus on supply chains and export curbs.
The strategy recognizes “that secure supply chains and export controls and protecting national security is as important as trade,” US Ambassador Mark Gitenstein told Bloomberg TV in an interview Thursday. “You have to build structures on both sides of the Atlantic that are capable of protecting both.”
His comments come as the EU and its member states take bolder steps to boost national security tools and shore up supplies, edging closer to the US strategy of avoiding over-dependence on China.
The EU this week outlined proposals to identify security risks, and possibly control key technology exports and curb sensitive investments in the future. The EU is also looking to overhaul key supplies where it’s vulnerable – such as in raw materials, semiconductors and car batteries.
Gitenstein said the EU’s new security strategy describes “de-risking” from China “very eloquently.” He called it a “very good beginning,” adding that he was “pleased by what I saw.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has sought to frame the bloc’s relations as “de-risking” from China, for instance by diversifying supply chains — and not “de-coupling,” or cutting economic ties. The terms are also adopted by US officials as they seek to cool tensions between Washington and Beijing.
EU officials are trying to strike a delicate balancing act. They want to be able to intervene in a targeted way where there are military implications but also maintain broader trade ties to the critical Chinese market. And they want to do all of that in coordination with the US, even though Washington often seeks to move further and faster than Brussels.
–With assistance from Lyubov Pronina.
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