Hello from Tokyo. Chinese President Xi Jinping is now visiting Europe for the first time in five years. In France, the first stop of his tour, President Emmanuel Macron — who visited Beijing last year and made the controversial remark that Europe should avoid getting dragged into a conflict over Taiwan — greeted him warmly, saying, “We want to welcome more Chinese investors to France.”
In contrast to this, Europe overall is taking a more cautious view of China, with rising trade tensions over electric vehicles among the many concerns. This week’s Big Story focuses on the much-changed relationship between Europe and China in this area.
There are many automotive powerhouses in Europe, including France and Germany, home to well-known automakers such as Renault and Mercedes-Benz. I’ve been to Europe several times in recent years, and I can’t remember ever seeing a Chinese car. But the data shows that the situation is changing rapidly, making European leaders nervous.
As Beijing rushes to boost EV production, many Chinese EV manufacturers are now expanding into the European market with low-cost models. Europe has been trying to go electric as part of its decarbonization efforts, and the Big Story points out the dilemma of whether to rush EV adoption and embrace Chinese cars, or delay decarbonization and still protect the European car industry.
Friction between China and Europe is not limited to EVs. Our Business Spotlight in this week’s magazine examines Europe’s efforts to revive its semiconductor industry and reduce the risk of depending too much on China. This mirrors the U.S. and Japanese developments toward investing a lot in onshoring chip production, but the story explains how Europe faces more hurdles and complications.
Europe and China were once connected by the Silk Road, as we know from history. Now China is reviving that history with its Belt and Road Initiative. This week’s Asia Insight looks into one of the key countries along the Silk Road, Uzbekistan, whose main industry is agriculture but is now facing severe salt threats to major crops such as cotton and wheat due to Soviet-era mismanagement.
The so-called Maritime Silk Road, also known as the Spice Routes, is believed to have been used for the spice trade between Europe and Asia in ancient times. This week’s magazine reports that now, spices produced by major Indian manufacturers are alleged to contain carcinogenic elements and are under regulatory scrutiny in several countries to which they are exported. Indian spices are becoming increasingly popular, and this has many people, including myself, concerned.
Much of Uzbekistan’s cotton goes to Bangladesh, the world’s largest producer of ready-made garments and a country with its own deep history. From the Life & Arts section of this week’s magazine, the Tea Leaves column is about a restaurant in Dhaka where you can enjoy the historic food experience inherited from Bangladesh’s colonial past.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Shin Nakayama
Editor-in-chief, Nikkei Asia
Follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @ShinNakayama_NA