EU Cybersecurity Reform Marks Strategic Shift in Approach to Chinese Technology
EU Cybersecurity Reform Marks Strategic Shift in Approach to Chinese Technology
Publish Date: 2026-05-02 16:27:00
Source Domain: www.ntd.com
The European Commission’s proposed revision of its Cybersecurity Act, unveiled on Jan. 20 in Strasbourg, marks a turning point in its approach to Chinese technology suppliers.
The draft regulation creates, for the first time, a legal framework empowering the commission to designate “third countries posing cybersecurity concerns” and to classify their suppliers as “high-risk.”
Although the text never names China, Huawei, or ZTE, its enforcement would result in the gradual exclusion of Chinese equipment from the bloc’s mobile, fixed, and satellite networks. The new architecture allows Brussels to override the reservations of capitals that have so far resisted excluding Chinese suppliers from their networks.
Should the text be adopted by the European Parliament, Brussels will join Washington, which excluded Huawei and ZTE from American mobile networks back in 2019.
A ‘European Awakening’
Emmanuel Lincot, sinologist, professor at the Catholic Institute of Paris, and senior research fellow at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations, said that the regulation reflects a strategic posture in Brussels.
“It is a good measure, and it was time,” he told The Epoch Times in an interview. “Many experts have long argued, with reason, that there was a danger in resorting to Huawei, whose intentions are not necessarily benevolent,” he said.
“This measure amounts to telling them: recess is over, we are not fooled, go home or change your attitude.”
Lincot reads the new approach as part of a broader trend.
“This protectionist measure is part of an awakening of a true European identity,” he said. “The war in Ukraine was the catalyst.”
The sinologist emphasized that a growing number of member states are also “getting wary” of the “Chinese project,” noting that the new Silk Roads were “not only an infrastructure project; they are also a digital project.”
Europe is engaged in an economic war with China, Lincot said.
“We are clearly…
