En la cubierta: "A Report by the European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC). June 2024"

In recent years, the risks associated with growing dependencies on China and how to reduce them have been a recurring topic of debate on Europe’s relations with China. The United States and its partners have pushed to reduce reliance on China in various fields, citing national security concerns, among other things. The debate on the role of Chinese suppliers, notably Huawei and ZTE, in the build out of Europe’s 5G telecommunications networks in 2019 was perhaps the first clear sign of unease over China’s increasing presence in critical infrastructure, where Chinese companies had for some years been acquiring significant stakes in major European assets from ports to electricity grids. The Covid-19 pandemic brought to light supply chain vulnerabilities and dependencies, especially with regard to China, where European countries had become heavily reliant on China for supplies of items such as masks and respirators. When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine exposed the costs of overreliance on Russia for gas supplies, the EU became increasingly concerned about the risks of economic dependence on other potential geopolitical rivals, such as China. The de-risking concept is now couched in a broader, nominally country-agnostic discussion on economic security, on which the European Commission drafted a strategy in June 2023. By strengthening the EU’s economic foundation and competitiveness, mitigating risks, and collaborating with as many nations as possible to address common issues and goals, the strategy sets out a common framework for achieving economic security.