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Cyril Ip

The EU can still play mediator between the United States and China despite worsening ties between the rival powers, a leading European academic has said.
According to Dominique Turpin of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, the European Union’s role as a US-China bridge remains vital, especially as the bloc does not compete directly with either country in the technology arena.
“The Americans are kind of extreme because they see China as a threat to their technology,” said Turpin, CEIBS’ European president.
“With Google, Facebook, and all these [US] companies developing technology for the world – you don’t see a European Alibaba [or] a European Google, so maybe we are more open.”
Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.
A tight US presidential race has also fuelled uncertainties about the US-China relationship, amid concerns that Republican candidate Donald Trump might be tougher on China than the Democrats’ Kamala Harris if he were to return to the White House.
The EU was caught “in between” the US-China tussle, and concerned about a further worsening of ties between the two, Turpin said.
Given China’s “excess capacity” and US bans on Chinese goods, Europe was likely to become a “natural market” for China, thus affecting domestic companies, he explained.
Just hours after Turpin’s interview with the Post, the EU imposed a new array of tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs).

Tuesday’s ruling cemented additional duties for Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor and its subsidiaries, who will pay a top rate of 35.3 per cent on top of a baseline 10 per cent duty on all EV imports into the EU. The tariffs also apply to private firms in China, albeit at lower rates.
“There is still, for some people, the memory of what happened with the Japanese, because when they came [to the European market] in the 1980s, they basically killed the UK car and motorcycle industry – British Leyland disappeared. So there is the fear that the Chinese are also going to destroy jobs,” Turpin said.
A perception that Chinese-made goods were “cheap” may also have spurred the EU measures, which were “a way for the Europeans to gain time to adjust”, according to Turpin, who is also a professor of marketing.
“Many companies have underestimated the capacity of the Chinese to innovate,” he said. “Things [in China] go much faster than in Europe, so when it comes to developing new technology for cars, the Chinese are faster.”
Under the EU’s “strategic autonomy”, as envisioned by leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, the bloc aims prioritise its own interests and autonomously manage ties with both China and the US.
“Every European country, I think, wants to keep some good relations with China because, again, it’s an important economic partner [and] an important player in the world,” Turpin said. “We want to remain on friendly terms with both [countries] and we kind of find ourselves in between, so this is a very delicate position for many politicians.”


Divisions within the EU on how to approach China represented one of the bloc’s greatest weaknesses, Turpin said.
“The EU is an artificial concept, because when you have challenges and reduced growth, every country looks at its own interest first,” he said, adding that China, Russia and the US could all take advantage of these inconsistencies.
“Some countries will probably try to be more friendly to China, like Slovakia and Hungary … and some countries are probably going to be less friendly, like the French or the Germans, because they have so much at stake here with the automotive industry.”
Turpin said it was “very easy” for European politicians to make a name for themselves amid an economic slowdown, with nationalists using talking points like “We’re going to protect your jobs, close our borders or raise duties”.
However, ties with China ultimately depended on their “economic correlation”.


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China-EU relations

EU still has key role as US-China bridge as it ‘does not challenge either on tech’

The EU is seen as caught “in between” the US-China tussle, as a tight US presidential race fuels uncertainties about ties between the rival powers. Photo: AP

Dominique Turpin says many European firms “have underestimated the capacity of the Chinese to innovate”. Photo: CEIBS

China eager to resolve EU’s ‘divide and conquer’ tactics during EV talks: analysts

Cars on a transport train parked at ICO International Car Operators inlet terminals at a port in Zeebrugge, Belgium. Photo: EPA-EFE

Employees work on an electric vehicle production line during at a factory under Jiangling Group Electric Vehicle in Nanchang, Jiangxi province. Photo: Reuters

First US national security memo on AI sparks fear of escalating tech war with China

The deepening divide between the US and China could “lead to a waste of resources and a more ‘fragmented’ global AI innovation landscape”, according to a researcher. Photo: Xinhua

China-EU trade war erupts as Beijing files WTO complaint over EV tariff hikes

A trade dispute between China and the EU over electric vehicles has landed at the World Trade Organization. Photo: AFP

China’s Xi seeks closer ties with Finland on green energy, peace plan for Ukraine

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Finland’s Alexander Stubb inspect a guard of honour at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Tuesday. Photo: Pool via Reuters

News

China

Diplomacy

Latest EU tariffs on Chinese EVs aim to give Europe ‘time to adjust’ to China’s ‘excess capacity’, European academic tells the Post


Latest EU tariffs on Chinese EVs aim to give Europe ‘time to adjust’ to China’s ‘excess capacity’, European academic tells the Post.
