Europe’s Fear of China

Since the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, bringing the world’s stock markets to collapse, neither Europe nor the US had been able to stabilise its economic situation. The stock market rebounded briefly, only to crash again soon after, unnoticed. The most recent major event was the subprime mortgage crisis. In response, virtually all the national banks of western countries tried to rescue private banks and other financial institutions. This led to Iceland’s bankruptcy and near-bankruptcy in other states, such as Greece and Ireland.

Without delving deeper into this argument, it is clear that economic uncertainty is widely felt in both the US and Europe. In many places, people feel insecure and afraid for the future. This feeling is reinforced by China’s apparent resilience in the face of the crisis. In fact, it seems that the Chinese economy could benefit from the crisis, given that it is selling more goods to increasingly thrifty Western countries.

China is growing economically while Europe is shrinking.
The events that followed the end of the Second World War signalled the end of Europe’s supremacy. The British and French empires dissolved and both countries gradually became politically irrelevant. Initially, power shifted only between the Western powers, thanks to the United States and the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Asia, Africa, and Latin America had little to no influence on the global political stage.

The dissolution of the USSR commenced in the 1980s; in response, Europe sought to regain its economic and political influence through the establishment of the EU. Nevertheless, Europe exerts only a modicum of genuine influence, except through individual countries such as France and the UK. The only remaining power factor is military: NATO. However, the organisation in question frequently appears to lack the necessary authority to implement effective measures. For instance, it was unable to prevent the Srebrenica massacre, which occurred on European soil. The Western world is currently experiencing significant economic challenges, including rising levels of unemployment in numerous countries. Concerns regarding China’s expanding influence appear to be well-founded.

The Europeans are afraid of the Chinese competition
Concerns have been raised among European nations regarding the emergence of a competitive economic landscape with China as a major player. The notion of China as a significant economic entity has become a recurring subject of discourse, with some individuals and experts even invoking historical analogies such as Nostradamus’s “yellow peril” prophecy to underscore the perceived threat. This is more of a fantasy. The prevailing concern in Europe is the prospect of diminished competitiveness vis-à-vis other global powers, particularly China, which may consequently precipitate a decline in the European standard of living. It is possible that there are further complexities to be explored, specifically the confrontation with the self-image that Europe occupies a central position in the global hierarchy, coupled with the notion that, despite the universal equality of all people, Europeans are perceived as occupying a superior social echelon in comparison to Asians, Africans, and Latin Americans. The concept of the successful Chinese individual is held up to this self-image by way of metaphorical representation. European school textbooks have long perpetuated the false notion that the Chinese populace is collectively thinking beings, devoid of individuality, who engage in arduous labour with rudimentary tools. It is interesting to note that these very people have now become the new economic captains of the world.

Isolationism instead of opening
This confrontation, together with the economic problems, is leading to an increasingly isolationist policy in Europe. Instead of an open attitude, people are clinging to what little they have. The latest events in North Africa symbolise this. Why distance yourself from dictators? After all, they stand for stability, i.e. for the status quo. It doesn’t matter whether this is inhumane or not, the main thing is that Europe doesn’t have to move. It was only at the last moment, and only at the insistence of France, that the West agreed to take action against Gadaffi. In Syria, Algeria, Yemen and Morocco, European policy is practising silence. And then there is the unspeakable refugee policy. A European Union with 500 million inhabitants has no room for a few tens of thousands of refugees from North Africa. Instead of offering maximum solidarity to the liberated and liberating countries, Europe is squirming and unmistakably giving the people of North Africa the cold shoulder.

In the field of economics, there is a common discourse surrounding opportunities and the necessity to capitalise on them. Europe is so preoccupied with itself and its fears that it fails to recognise opportunities, even when they are in its own best interests. It is conceivable that the Chinese government may already have signed agreements with the new and future rulers in North Africa.