The European Union is using the right strategy by filing a case against China at the WTO for its discriminatory trade practices against Lithuania. It is telling China there will be consequences for bullying one of its member states. That was the word from Dr. Zsu Zsa Ferenczy, a Taipei-based EU-China expert and former political advisor to the European Parliament, in an interview with RTI. Ferenczy is a guest lecturer at Taiwan’s National Dong Hwa University.
Ferenczy said the WTO lawsuit is a significant move and will give the EU more deterrence power in the long run against economic coercion by China.
China has imposed trade and diplomatic sanctions on Lithuania for welcoming a Taiwanese Representative Office to its capital. The European Commission has evidence that China has refused to allow Lithuanian goods through customs, rejected import applications from Lithuania and pressured EU companies to remove Lithuanian parts from their supply chains.
The EU is strengthening its toolbox to deter economic coercion. Ferenczy said the EU could eventually use tactics such as imposing tariffs, restricting imports and investment as ways to deter and punish economic coercion. She said the WTO lawsuit is in line with the Anti-Coercion Instrument proposed by the European Commission in December.
She also noted that support for the WTO case by Renew Europe, the third largest political group in the European Parliament, also shows that the move has widespread support in the EU.