/ world today news/ “Competition,” it says on the website of the US Chamber of Commerce, “builds our country, makes it exceptional and pushes it forward… When our society allows the free exchange of ideas, innovation and trade, we can use the best of human imagination and ingenuity to achieve the best future. Competition makes this possible because it is a process of challenge, refinement, improvement and progress.”
These pompous words are at the same time just empty words today. If such principles have guided the actions of the US and the European Union in relation to the PRC or Russia today, then the only thing that can prevent their peaceful coexistence is state support for state-owned enterprises.
Everything else, such as freedom of speech, human rights and the representation of the people in the institutions of state administration, has long since become in the West an obvious fiction to hide the strict control of dissent.
And if state support for enterprises from the point of view of Western ideology is an unacceptable evil (protectionism) that must be punished with sanctions, then how should we understand the latest maneuvers of the European Union?
Last week, the European Parliament and the governments of the EU member states reached an agreement “on a proposal aimed at leveling the playing field for European companies facing competition from foreign companies receiving financial support in their own countries” .
Simply put, European lawmakers have begun to create regulations aimed at foreign (mainly Chinese) state-backed buyers who want to acquire European companies or participate in public procurement.
Europe felt threatened as the European economy would be easy prey for Beijing-backed Chinese firms as shares of even major European companies tumbled.
How to remove “the unfair advantage” of the Chinese, destroying the foundations of “the free and competitive market of goods and services”? It’s very simple: the Chinese should be banned from buying companies in Europe. Specifically, it will look like this: if a foreign company has received state support of at least 50 billion euros in the last three years and intends to merge with a company in Europe, it will not be able to do so without the permission of the European Commission.
The contradiction is immediately striking: European companies can receive state support, but Chinese companies cannot. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg, against which every initiative of the Chinese competitors on the European market of goods and services will now have to collapse.
„The competition that builds our country” – this postulate is now subject to prohibition in Europe. European Commission “strengthens the toolkit against destructive foreign subsidies” . Companies subsidized by foreign governments will now have to win the favor of EU authorities to be allowed to acquire European firms or participate in public procurement. The European Parliament supported this bill by an overwhelming majority of 627 to 8.
There is no dispute about the nature of the problem in Europe. The inconsistencies concern only the amounts of the turnover of the companies subject to an investigation for loyalty to Brussels: the threshold for investigation should be 600 or 400 million euros. The lower the threshold, the more companies will queue up for permits in Brussels and the more power EU commissioners will have to prevent competitors from entering the European market.
Avoiding “the unjust” advantages of state subsidies over competitors, while at the same time “fair” subsidizes its own companies, Europe overturns all previous rules of conduct in the world market.
„Under the current circumstances, the EU economy is doing quite well. However, this success depends on how freely the EU circumvents its own rules” , writes Euractiv. Of course, this is also seen in China. And if it is convenient for the West to introduce “fair” rules under the escort of aircraft carriers, then why might it be inconvenient for Beijing?
Last week, a Chinese squadron led by the aircraft carrier Liaoning began a combat mission in the western Pacific. “The squadron consists of eight warships and is the largest to conduct a long raid in recent times, indicating a significant increase in the fleet’s combat capabilities in preparation for missions that include a potential military conflict in the Taiwan Strait”notes the American edition of GlobalSecurity.
In addition, according to the US Department of Defense, China has the largest naval force in the world with 355 warships. According to forecasts, in the next four years this number will grow to 420 ships, and by 2030 – to 460. With their help, it will not be difficult to drown Western democracy with its new order in the South China Sea. Europe doesn’t understand this yet…
Translation: ES
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