A draft strategy published this week by the EU would impose export controls on critical technology and protect against the risks posed by supply chain disruption, whether in the form of industrial espionage, energy security problems, or infrastructure attacks.
The strategy is widely seen as a reaction to potential threats posed by China, although it does not name that country explicitly. Remarks by the European Commission’s commissioner for competition, Margrethe Vestager, however, do state that China poses a threat to Europe’s technology security and intellectual property.
“We design this strategy to be country-agnostic,” Vestager said at a press conference in Brussels Tuesday. “Having said that, we will use a geopolitical filter when assessing the risks. We can’t treat a supply dependency on a systemic rival the same way as we would on an ally.”
