A staffer charges an electric vehicle (EV) using a mobile charging pile at the Guangling service area on the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway in Taizhou, East China's Jiangsu Province, on January 26, 2022. The mobile charging pile - a special vehicle - has four 30-kilowatt charging piles, which can serve four EVs simultaneously. It takes one hour to recharge an EV. Photo: cnsphoto

The growing tendency of EU protectionism in clean energy will harm the interests of EU consumers and pose roadblocks to broader China-EU economic cooperation, Chinese analysts said over the weekend.

In what Bloomberg described as "one of the strongest rebuttals yet by Beijing against the EU's approach in protecting its emerging green energy sector," Chinese envoy to the EU Fu Cong said on Friday that the EU's decision to launch an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles (EVs) from China was unfair and regrettable.

Fu further warned that "there are also reports that Chinese photovoltaic products and wind turbines may also be targeted" by the EU. 
 
"It needs to be pointed out that the good momentum in the global green and low-carbon transition has not come easily, and therefore, the forming of exclusive blocs and unilateral and protectionist measures must be avoided, and attempts to 'decouple' or 'de-risk,' which threatens global supply chains, must be rejected, so as not to jeopardize global cooperation on climate change," Fu said.

Last week, the European Commission (EC), the bloc's executive branch, initiated an anti-subsidy probe of new-energy vehicles made in China by producers BYD, SAIC Motor and Geely.

The three companies were chosen by way of sampling efforts. US EV maker Tesla was not among the firms currently under investigation.

If the EU investigation discovers "evidence of subsidies," an "average anti-subsidy tax" will be calculated, which will apply to all EVs imported from China.

"When it comes to green development, the right thing to do is to work in solidarity and seek mutual benefits. In doing so, we will be able to inject more positive energy and more certainty into the global fight against climate change," Fu said.


The EC pledged last week to do more to protect its embattled wind sector in "a move to counter China's growing manufacturing influence," according to Bloomberg.

Chinese analysts said the growing trend of EU protectionism will hurt the interests of local consumers and impede the continent's pursuit of clean-energy and low-carbon goals, which call for tripling its renewable energy capacity in this decade.

Ye Bin, a research fellow specializing in EU laws at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday that in addition to protectionist-prone actions in the sphere of trade, recent lawmaking processes also indicate that the EU is "shutting its door" to Chinese investors in the sphere of investment.

Such a stance taken by the EU in the field of clean-energy cooperation, which prioritizes competition over cooperation with China, demonstrates the intentions to "decouple" from China in this emerging, high-value added supply chains by EU policymakers, and may lead to new hurdles in bilateral trade and investment ties, Ye predicted. 

The EC's anti-subsidy probe, initiated without the request of EU companies, has already raised issues of a potential response by China among EU businesses.

"The history of global economic development tells us that one will only get trapped by opting for protectionism, and one will not succeed or go far by pursuing 'decoupling' or severing of industry and supply chains," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a routine press conference on Thursday.

On October 12, the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU (CCCEU), an industry body, said the EU probe of Chinese EVs has not substantially changed the confidence and determination of Chinese enterprises to deeply explore the European and global markets.

The investigation is "not helpful" in achieving its own green goals, especially as EU launched the legislative goal of banning the sale of new fuel vehicles in 2035,the CCCEU said.

Industry insiders noted that the EU should take an objective view of the development of China's EV industry, whose rapid growth in recent years was based on competitive industry chain advantages rather than national subsidies.

Lutz Meschke, German carmaker Porsche's chief financial officer, said the EU's move was "not very helpful" for the bloc overall, but especially not for Germany, the Financial Times reported on October 25. 

"As a careful guardian of iconic European automotive brands for over decade," Geely Holdings said in a statement sent to the Global Times, it "regards free trade, including for EVs, as beneficial for all consumers and in helping to combat global climate change."