{"id":44463,"date":"2021-01-14T06:23:14","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T06:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44463"},"modified":"2021-01-14T06:23:14","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T06:23:14","slug":"gathering-storm-eu-firms-say-us-china-decoupling-is-hurting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44463","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Gathering storm\u2019: EU firms say US-China decoupling is hurting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rivalry between US and China in tech is the biggest source of concern, European business groups say in a new report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Digital decoupling between China and the United States could severely affect European companies in China and they should \u201cprepare for the worst,\u201d EU business groups said, adding that they may be forced into a costly separation of their international operations.<\/p>\n

While political, trade and financial decoupling are concerning, China-US rivalry in the technology sphere is set to cause the biggest upset, the European Chamber of Commerce in China and the Mercator Institute for Chinese Studies, a Berlin-based think-tank, said in a report released on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Just as the US is attempting to purge its networks of Chinese-made software and components, China, which is heavily dependent on imports of semiconductors, is pushing for digital self-reliance, it said. European companies are caught in the middle.<\/p>\n

Chamber president Joerg Wuttke, speaking at a briefing ahead of the report\u2019s launch, warned of a \u201cgathering storm\u201d.<\/p>\n

Data flows, information, communications and technology (ICT) equipment and digital goods and services would be where decoupling hurts companies the most, he said.<\/p>\n

Businesses are already grappling with some of these issues, with different definitions of \u201cdata\u201d already having a \u201csignificant negative impact\u201d on nearly half of the companies surveyed, the groups said in the report.<\/p>\n

They said 19 percent of companies had abandoned or postponed new projects, goods or services because of China\u2019s regulations on personal information.<\/p>\n

\u2018Digital disintegration\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cAs the world moves towards increasing techno-nationalism, the possibility of complete digital disintegration requires sober analysis,\u201d they said in the report, which comes two weeks after the EU and China reached a deal to give European companies greater access to Chinese markets.<\/p>\n

The US is attempting to build a global \u2018Clean Network\u2019 that excludes Chinese technology [File: Alessandro Bianchi\/Reuters]<\/figure>\n

A \u201cClean Network\u201d proposal by the US aims to build a global digital alliance excluding technology that Washington sees as being manipulated by China\u2019s Communist government.<\/p>\n

Protectionism in China is already making it hard for companies to use European digital solutions and network equipment, said Jacob Gunter, also at the Chamber.<\/p>\n

The prioritising of national security concerns over business and trade is raising uncertainty and hurting sentiment, as is China\u2019s declining image in Europe, according to the report, which was based on surveys of about 120 members of the chamber and conducted late last year.<\/p>\n

European companies may be forced to choose between either entirely separate operations in China and the rest of the world, or finding ways to use more \u201cneutral\u201d architecture, said the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe costs of either option are considerable. Every step taken down the path of decoupling inflicts further damage on innovation, efficiency, cost-saving and economies of scale,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are on a ride downhill \u2026 it\u2019s gathering speed,\u201d said Wuttke. \u201cI don\u2019t see any exit ramp at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rivalry between US and China in tech is the biggest source of concern, European business groups say in a new report.Digital decoupling between China and the United States could severely affect European companies in China and they should \u201cprepare for the worst,\u201d EU business groups said, adding that they may be forced into a costly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}