"we see greater and greater dependency on Chinese imports, including in critical areas, but China is becoming less dependent on European technology" [China is becoming less dependent on European technology]
The quote explicitly names the two-directional divergence — European dependency rising, Chinese dependency falling — which is the precise mechanism the signal identifies as structurally eroding EU leverage over time.
Reasoning from this article
This dynamic generalizes beyond EU-China to any relationship where one party controls chokepoint inputs for the other's strategic transition (e.g., energy, semiconductors, rare earths) while simultaneously indigenizing the technologies it previously imported. The time-sensitivity noted by the analyst — 'time is a critical factor' — suggests this is a closing window problem, not a static balance, making it a structural shift rather than a cyclical trade dispute.