New Delhi, April 24 (IANS). Europe is losing its strategic independence as it becomes increasingly dependent on China’s factories, even for the green energy transition it itself wants to pursue. This has been said in an article.
According to this article published in Brussels Signal, China now makes 80 percent of the world’s solar panels, 75 percent of batteries and 70 percent of electric vehicles, which shows a complete monopoly on next generation energy and mobility. This situation is a serious threat to Europe.
The article says that while America is engaged in ostentatious and risky wars in the Middle East, China is making rapid progress in artificial intelligence, robotics and modern manufacturing. These are the same areas that will determine strength in the coming 50 years. On the other hand, Europe is trying to eliminate its remaining industries from the burden of regulations.
The article also said that China is involved in port projects in more than 90 countries of the world and thus is increasing its influence on important routes of global maritime trade. Each port where it operates becomes, in a sense, a “strategic presence” of the new era, where the terms of trade gradually seem to be shifting to the eastern countries.
Apart from this, concern has also been expressed in the article that China is trying to make its currency “Renminbi” a global reserve currency. If that happens, it could be difficult for Western countries like Europe to run their spending and welfare schemes, which have until now been based on the strength of the dollar and the euro.
Finally, the article warns that if Europe continues to weaken its industry and only increase bureaucracy, it could reach a situation where its energy, infrastructure and even decisions would become dependent on outside countries. Due to this, it may lose the ability to take its own future decisions and gradually its global role may also weaken.
–IANS
AY/DSC