Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun

China on Wednesday urged the European Union to heed rational voices from within Europe and avoid adopting discriminatory restrictive measures, after 17 leading European telecom executives signed an open letter warning that a proposed revision to the EU Cybersecurity Act could force the sector to spend up to an additional 40 billion euros on equipment replacement.

At a regular press briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the latest open letter from European telecom firms once again shows that the EU's relevant approach is "harmful to others and costly to itself."

According to reports, the open letter, released on Tuesday by European telecom lobbying group Connect Europe, said the planned cybersecurity revision would require European telecom companies to replace equipment at a cost of up to 40 billion euros, draining the sector of the very capital needed for fiber, 5G and 6G infrastructure. 

The letter was signed by 17 senior executives, among them the chief executives of Orange Group of France, Deutsche Telekom of Germany and Telefónica S.A. of Spain.

Guo said previous assessments had already indicated that the Cybersecurity Act could cause losses of more than 360 billion euros to the EU over the next five years. 

"Protectionism will not bring competitiveness," Guo said, adding that such measures would only cause Europe to miss opportunities in digital transformation, undermine its economic and social development, damage its image as an open market, and weaken confidence among foreign companies considering investment in Europe. 

He said China hopes the EU will listen to rational voices from across Europe and refrain from taking discriminatory restrictive measures. 

Global Times