The EU's terrifying helplessness

A short note on the image: The AI ​​misunderstood my request somewhat. Change requests were pointless.
It would only have lead to a completely different result. The image is still impressive though :-)

In his today's newsletter “Sinification”, Jacob Mardell aptly summarized Zhao Junjie’s arguments under the title “The EU’s ‘Rare Earth Fear’”. 

"The anxiety and helplessness the EU has displayed over the rare earth issue reveal the contradictions and dilemmas at the heart of its policy towards China."

Mardell continues: “Though often unfair, if not misguided, Zhao’s commentary contains a few uncomfortable barbs — noting, for instance, that Europe’s rare-earth predicament is partly of its own making, the result of years spent offshoring resource-intensive industry to developing countries.”

Junjie’s forewarning of a US-China détente is especially jarring: “When” — not ‘if’ — “China and the United States reach a consensus or reconcile, the EU will find itself in an increasingly awkward position”, he insists.

The key points of this official Chinese view on Europe should not be ignored:

1. Europe’s fixation on the rare earth issue reflects Brussels’ deep strategic anxiety rather than a purely economic concern.
   
   
2. The vulnerability is largely self-inflicted, after years of offshoring dirty, resource-intensive industries to developing countries.
   
   
3. Instead of industrial power, Europe chose to leverage its market size and wield regulations to project normative power globally.
   
   
4. Europe’s vulnerability is real, but precisely because of this, it should avoid politicising the rare earth question and overextending the concept of national security — that it continues to do so is symptomatic of its arrogance.
   
   
5. Washington prioritises its own interests and sees the EU as a strategic pawn; if Europeans continue to follow the US in criticising China, they will gain little in return.
   
   
6. Facing multiple social and economic crises at home, the EU should focus on confronting its own systemic flaws rather than externalising blame onto China.
   
   
7. Aggravating tensions over rare earths mainly serves to distract from domestic problems, while squandering opportunities for pragmatic cooperation between the EU and China.

If Europe fails to forge a unity in time, one that is both willing and able to pursue its own independent policies, we will be crushed between the millstones of the geopolitical major powers.

It appears that this process is already well underway.