Francesco Giovanni Lizzi
Several European countries have reevaluated their economic connections with China in recent years, particularly in the context of Chinese foreign direct investments (FDI) towards European critical sectors and infrastructure. These shifts of approaches emerged within the context of a renewed great power competition in the wake of the Sino-American trade war and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, leading to growing concerns about overreliance on China within Europe. In this context, Chinese FDI in telecommunication and automotive sectors have sparked vivid debates. How and why did the European approaches towards such investments evolve from 2013 – when these Chinese investments towards Europe gained momentum – to 2023? How was the criticality of these sectors constructed? By employing a qualitative approach and drawing on insights from International Political Economy, the project intends to delve into this evolution and “construction of criticality” with the aim of overcoming the dichotomy between welcoming and securitised approaches towards Chinese FDI in critical sectors. The goal is therefore to create a “securitization spectrum” accounting for intermediate positions in which FDI are welcome, but with certain reserves. More in particular, the project aims to discover if the agency of foreign policy actors and external influences have an impact on these shifts of approaches in different economic governance ecosystems. To do so, the case selection intends to focus on two different countries – Italy and Germany– each representing a different Variety of Capitalism, and each affected by different levels of securitization of Chinese involvement in automotive and telecommunication sectors.