[Global Times reporter Tommy] "The EU is considering forcing Chinese companies operating locally to transfer technology to European companies in order to actively promote EU industries to become more competitive." Bloomberg News quoted people familiar with the matter as saying on the 14th. In this regard, the spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated his position with three "objections" on the 15th: "As a principle, China supports Chinese and European enterprises to carry out trade and investment cooperation based on market principles to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, opposes forced technology transfer in violation of WTO rules, interferes with the normal production and business activities of enterprises, and opposes protectionist and discriminatory practices in the name of enhancing competitiveness."

According to people familiar with the matter, the above EU measures will apply to companies seeking to enter key digital and manufacturing markets such as automobiles and batteries. The measures also require these enterprises to use a certain percentage of EU goods or labor and add value to their products within the EU. Other options under consideration include mandating a joint venture.

The measures are expected to be introduced in November and are technically applicable to all non-EU companies, but the source said their goal was to prevent the power of China¡¯s manufacturing industry from overpowering the European industry.

The EU trade commissioner and the Danish foreign ministers made similar statements on Thursday, saying the EU is considering setting preconditions for Chinese companies to invest in Europe, including technology and proprietary technology transfers.

According to the report, Maroš Šefčovic, the European Commission's commissioner for matters such as trade and economic security, told reporters after a meeting of EU trade ministers in Horsens, Denmark: "We welcome foreign direct investment, but only if it is real investment." This means creating jobs in Europe, adding value in Europe, and transferring technology to Europe, "just as European companies do when they invest in China," he said.

Shevchenko also noted that many EU ministers have raised these questions, and now it is necessary for the Commission to translate them into concrete principles and proposals.

Danish Foreign Minister Rasmussen said that the EU should "learn from the experience of the United States and China" in setting conditions."If we invite China to invest in Europe, it must be based on certain technology transfer."

As the European industry seeks ways to protect its business model, lobby groups have called on the Commission to consider radical measures to acquire technology that China has already dominated. Bloomberg said the EU plans to ¡°follow Beijing,¡± which ¡°has long imposed strict restrictions on foreign-invested companies.¡±

In an interview with the Global Times on Friday, Qi Hong Jiang, a professor of regional and global governance research at Beijing Foreign Language University, said: ¡°The EU¡¯s approach is clearly targeted.¡± Qi Hong Jiang said, for example, in the key areas of the future such as new energy, digital economy, European policy seems to be aimed at making so-called technology transfer a threshold for Chinese enterprises to enter their market, or even a mandatory condition. This aspect wants to play a ¡°dissuasive¡± effect. By setting a threshold for technology transfer, some enterprises who are not willing to accept this condition are forced out of the market, thus achieving the goal of ¡°de-risking¡±; on the other hand, this method is also used to force European shortcuts in the fields of new energy, digital economy and so on.

China has repeatedly expressed its opposition to forced technology transfer.Forced technology transfer is not in accordance with China's foreign investment law, nor is it in accordance with economic laws.The European approach is actually a discriminatory policy and belongs to unilateralism.

Bloomberg mentioned that this high-risk move comes at a critical moment for Europe. Measures against China could spark a strong backlash and damage the still-vital trade relationship between the two sides.

If some enterprises withdraw from the European market because they are unwilling to accept the terms of technology transfer, Europe may miss the opportunity to develop cooperation with them; even if some enterprises are willing to pay the cost of technology transfer into the European market, it may endanger the future cooperation between the two sides, because this cooperation is not built on the basis of both parties voluntarily, but through compulsory means.