The securitisation of China as an economic actor in the European Union: Re-balancing towards Brussels

China’s structural position and influence over the global economic regime has evolved significantly in the last two decades, which has influenced a shift in global trade norms and rules. China’s shifting foreign policy behaviour has affected the national threat perceptions and economic interests of the EU and its member states. This gave the Commission the opportunity to securitise China as an economic actor to promote the acceptance of its Economic Security strategy and the reform of related policy instruments. Building on neofunctionalism and securitisation theory, this paper finds that the Commission promoted a specific threat image of China in the policy design of the trade instruments under the framework of strategic autonomy. This later allowed it to expand its powers as an economic security decision-maker by creating spill-overs from trade policy to security policy, which involved trade-offs in the institutional balance between the Commission and member states. The qualitative analysis of Commission documents shows that the country-agnostic approach that has been broadcasted in its discourse and main documents is questioned by growing references to China if you look at the fine print. This offers relevant insights into China’s indirect influence over the EU’s trade policy and its turn towards economic security and the geopoliticisation of trade policy tools.