China urges EU to oppose US economic coercion, as bloc adopts ‘anti-coercion’ tool

China hopes that the EU will join the international community in opposing US economic coercion, as China and the EU are both victims of it, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a press conference on Wednesday.

The remarks came as the EU has reportedly adopted a new tool to impose tariffs on countries imposing “economic blackmail,” a move that some say is aimed at China’s trade dispute with Lithuanian over the Taiwan question.

A report by AFP said that the trade tool is aimed at punishing countries that seek to put pressure on one of its member countries, and it would allow the 27-nation bloc to impose tariffs, restrict investment and limit access to public contracts for nations seen as engaging in economic blackmail.

Wang said that with regard to Lithuania’s wrong moves on the Taiwan question, China has repeatedly made its position clear, urging Lithuania to return to the right track of adhering to the one-China principle at an early date.

Wang noted that China and the EU are both victims of US economic coercion, and the US has openly coerced EU and other countries to restrict exports of semiconductor production equipment to China.

“This act of technological bullying has severely impacted the development of the semiconductor industry, not only harming the interests of China and the EU, but also undermining multilateral trade rules and seriously impacting the world economic order,” Wang said.

“The ‘China economic concision’ claim is untenable, so the EU does not openly say that the new tool is aimed at China, but this move deserves vigilance,” Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Cui noted that the decline in trade between China and Lithuania is one of the most direct reasons why the EU is now following the US to promote so-called economic coercion.

In 2022, China’s foreign trade with Lithuania reached $1.89 billion, a sharp decline compared with $2.62 billion in 2021.

Experts noted that due to changes in China-Lithuania relations, the confidence of Chinese traders and investors in Lithuania had decreased, so the trade decline is a natural case of economic risk aversion.

“It’s the US, not China, that has adopted economic coercion on the EU. The weaponization of trade relations can be reflected in the trade war between Europe and the US under the Trump administration. So it is completely wrong if the EU repeat such a claim,” Cui said.

In the first five months of this year, the EU remained China’s second-largest trading partner with total bilateral trade up 3.6 percent to 2.28 trillion yuan ($320.5 billion), Chinese customs data showed, indicating more cooperation potential and an irreplaceable trade partnership.

Now it is time for China and Europe to work together and maintain communication to jointly oppose the wrong behavior of weaponizing trade, economy and markets in the game of great powers, Cui noted.
Source: Global Times