China is the nation’s “top threat”.
Yes. And this is no surprise. Chinese carmakers, very much as any Chinese companies, operate under the rule of the Chinese party-state. The regime in Beijing suppresses dissent, people forcibly disappear, they even threaten your family members if you are deemed to be a threat to the party, and it purposefully misleads its own population through a ruthless disinformation machinery, just to name some examples.
Does that mean they’ll invest in local industries and become more technologically and resource sovereign? Will they educate their citizens about democracy, critical thinking, and how to recognise propaganda? Will they stop trying to legislate backdoors into all technology, reduce surveillance, and data collection?
Not that these you questions have anything to do with the linked article's topic, but a change in economic policy has already been going on for some time. It's slow and late, and I hope it gets a bit better with cooperation with the EU, Canada, New Zealand, and others.
An EU alliance could also help with better privacy laws, amongst others. But we must fight for more democracy. It's a battle that never ends as human rights are not a given. Just look at China.
[Edit typo.]