Experts say Brussels must stand up against Beijing using supplies of vital chips and minerals as ‘sword of Damocles’
As interventions go it was pretty audacious. The Dutch government decision at the end of September to take over Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chip factory, almost brought the entire European car industry to a halt.
Tensions between Europe and China de-escalated over the weekend as Beijing confirmed it would ease restrictions on automotive chip supplies to the EU, prompting sighs of relief in car factories around the world.
But it has only intensified the questions about the EU’s asymmetric relationship with China, with many in industry, diplomacy and governments asking if Europe is no longer collateral damage in the wider Sino-American political war but a target in itself.
“We can buy a bit of time, but there is a sense that we are entering into a situation where we are going to be dealing with rolling crises from now on and that things have really crossed a threshold with China,” said Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund thinktank and former China adviser within the European Commission.
