Denmark aligns with the EU to navigate China-related risks

In the past couple of years, Denmark's centrist coalition government has pragmatically re-engaged with China, while increasingly embracing the European Union's de-risking approach to address vulnerabilities and dependencies. Aiming to reassure both Danish companies and the security policy community amid rising geopolitical risks and the growing demand for supply chain resilience, Denmark’s re-engagement with China takes place within an emerging regulatory framework for addressing China-related risks based on both national and EU laws and guidelines. This new approach follows a five-year period (2018-2022) of heightened tensions when the Danish government changed its perception of China from a strategic partner to a systemic rival, in close coordination with both Washington and Brussels.

In a new joint report from the European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC), DIIS Senior Researchers Andreas Bøje Forsby and Yang Jiang investigate Denmark’s current relationship with China, focusing specifically on the Danish government’s approach to the de-risking agenda. The wider report offers a comparative overview of 22 European countries, with each chapter revolving around the following four questions: What is the country’s standpoint on the EU’s approach to de-risking? Which China-related risks is that country most concerned about? Has the country’s standpoint on de-risking resulted in any concrete measures? How does that standpoint affect the country’s views on or approach to China?