‘Reverse Deng’: can Europe pull a role reversal and secure Chinese battery tech?

As China leads the way on EVs and batteries, some say Europe should be pursuing joint ventures and technology transfer with Chinese firms

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A play on the term “reverse Nixon” has emerged in Europe, referring to late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s policies 45 years ago that helped power China’s economic miracle. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:00pm, 28 Mar 2025

Since January, much ink has been spilled debating whether US President Donald Trump’s zany geopolitical policies have at their core a guiding principle referred to as a “reverse Nixon”.

The goal, the theory goes, is to coax Russia from China’s bosom, thereby weakening the US’ primary adversary, in an inversion of former US leader Richard Nixon’s thawing ties with China in the 1970s to isolate the Soviet Union.

In Paris this week, however, a play on this term emerged in an effort to sum up a new element to the EU’s approach to Beijing. “Can Europe do a ‘reverse Deng’ with China?” asked François Godement of the Institut Montaigne, a French think tank, in a paper.

Godement was referring to paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s “endorsement of special economic zones and joint ventures drawing in foreign capital and technology” 45 years ago, when China kicked off the reform and opening up to grow the economy.

“These policies led to China’s economic miracle. Its economic surge is unparalleled in history, even considering the post-WWII success of Japan and the ‘four dragons’,” he wrote.

The “four dragons” refer to the developed Asian economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan which achieved rapid industrialisation and fast economic growth rates in the second half of the 20th century.