Rapid reduction Chinese investment V Europe caused a rather late awakening of the Europeans, who are now blocking order acquisitions European companies from China and an attempt to stop the intrusion of Chinese capital into European industry and European technologies. China’s investment in the EU has grown over the past year, according to research firm Rhodium Group. and the UK decreased by 22% compared to 2021, to 7.9 billion euros.

This figure, the lowest in a decade, pales in comparison to the €47.4 billion achieved by the value of Chinese investment in Europe in 2016, when the Old Continent was still enthusiastically welcoming Chinese capital. But now Europe seems to be following the lead of the superpower, which has scrutinized the movement of Chinese capital in recent years, and the US Foreign Investment Control Commission has repeatedly banned Chinese firms from taking over American technology companies.

Separate data from the Rhodium Group show that at least 10 out of 16 investment proposals submitted by Chinese companies in the technology and infrastructure sectors over the past year were objected to by authorities in Germany, Italy, the UK and Denmark. In many cases, the investments rejected by the European authorities involved the acquisition of semiconductor companies in Germany and the UK, and the regulators rejected them after looking at the specific technologies targeted by the Chinese companies.

Chinese investments that were objected to by national authorities included a bid to acquire Germany’s Elmos Semiconductor by China’s Sai Micro Electronics, which was blocked by Germany, and a bid to acquire electronics company Pulsic from Hong Kong’s Super Orange, which was blocked by British authorities. , but also the alleged takeover of the Alpi Aviation military drone group by Chinese state-owned companies, which was blocked by Italy.

Ten of the sixteen investment proposals last year met with objections from the German, Italian, British and Danish authorities.

Folding Italy

The change in European attitudes is evidenced, after all, by Rome’s intention to definitively withdraw from cooperation on the Silk Road, as it has communicated to Washington, according to a related Bloomberg report. The addition of Rome to this gigantic project of expanding Chinese influence had caused a sharp sensation in Europe a few years earlier. A growing number of EU member states are now scrutinizing the investments of Chinese companies much more closely, while expanding the powers of regulators to review already issued licenses, according to the researchers who collected the relevant data. Specifically, they say Belgium, Estonia and Ireland will set up mechanisms this year to revise licenses already granted to Chinese investment.

electric cars

According to a related Financial Times report, the rapid decline in Chinese takeovers of European companies has led to Chinese investments in Europe being concentrated mainly in the field of green investments, which amounted to 4.5 billion euros in 2022 and accounts for 57%. Total. At the heart of the interests of Chinese companies lies the field of electric vehicles. Chinese EV battery makers have announced a $17.5 billion investment in Europe from 2018 to date.