The European Union is considering forcing Chinese companies to transfer technology to European firms if they want to invest and operate in the bloc.
The European Commission is set to present a comprehensive paper on the bloc’s economic security, with discussions on tech transfers a key part of its agenda.
“If we invite Chinese investments to Europe, it must come with the precondition that we also have some kind of technology transfer,” EU trade chief and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen told a news conference on Tuesday.
Also on AF: China Making Exports Of Rare Earth Magnets ‘Increasingly Difficult’
“I don’t think we have completed that discussion, but we find ourselves in new circumstances,” he added.
Rasmussen said that many in Europe thought that, by playing by the rules, they could emerge as winners. He said the EU should take some inspiration from the US and China in setting conditions.
The EU says China has benefited from large-scale technology transfers from European businesses set up there, such as transfers made as a condition of market access or via rules that mandate joint ventures with Chinese companies.
European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said the EU welcomed foreign investment, but these needed to be “real investments.”
This meant they created new jobs in the bloc and involved transfers of technology and intellectual property rights “as European companies have been doing when they’ve been investing in China.”
Many EU ministers had brought these issues up, Sefcovic said, and it was now up to the Commission to translate this into concrete principles and proposals.
The discussions come at a time when Chinese businesses are increasingly pivoting to Europe to expand their operations. Chinese electric vehicle-makers like BYD, for instance, is setting up multiple factories across the region to tap into local markets and avoid tariffs from importing vehicles.
The EU has also emerged as a key market for Chinese firms due to increasing competition and deflationary pressures at home and tough policies that deter their expansion in the US.
On Wednesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, responded to the EU’s plan saying China opposed forced technology transfer and “protectionist and discriminatory practices in the name of enhancing competitiveness”.
- Reuters, with additional editing and inputs from Vishakha Saxena
Also read:
Chinese EV Firms Invest More Abroad Than At Home For First Time
EU Set to ‘Hit China With 20 Anti-Dumping Probes’
China Ditching European Telecom Tech, EU Slow to Respond
China Plays Rare Earths Card in EV Tariff Negotiations With EU
BYD Plants Seen Generating Big Sales in Europe, South America
EU Warns ‘China Must Adapt’ to Resolve Trade Disputes
China’s BYD Welcome to Open an EV Factory in France: Minister
EU May Ask China For Clean Tech Knowhow in Return For Subsidies
China EV Giant BYD to Build First Europe Plant in Hungary
China’s BYD Sees Sales in the UK Jump by 880%
