TOKYO, Sept. 18, 2023—In an ever escalating market hegemony move, China is demanding that Chinese EV manufacturers use only domestically-made electronic parts, in an apparent policy to domesticate EV supply chains, the Japanese national daily Yomiuri reported Sept. 18 in its electronic edition.
The policy was informally revealed in November 2022 by the Chinese Industry and Information Ministry’s former minister to a gathering of domestic automakers, the daily said, which quoted industry officials as saying that failure to clear numerical targets could be subject to penalties.
The alleged policy directive followed a report, the Work Plan relating to the steady development of the automobile industry 2023-24, that the ministry and the Ministry of Finance released on Sept. 1, 2023.
If true, the directive, while presumably orally conveyed to the industry, violate WTO conditions against discrimination of foreign businesses.
Yomiuri quoted Chinese research data as valuing 2022 Chinese auto parts market at 3.88 trillion yuan (roughly $500 billion, projecting to grow to 4.8 trillion yuan in 2028. Presently, U.S., European and Japanese parts makers command a lion’s share of the Chinese auto parts market, though Chinese auto and parts makers have been knifing that dominance with technologies they acquire from Chinese-foreign joint manufacturing ventures.
China also is expanding into the global fuel cell technology market – not a surprise since it already dominates solar power panels, electric home appliances, and numerous other markets.
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