Security fears drive tit-for-tat frameworks that are increasingly contradictory, leaving global companies to face a dual-compliance burden
5-MIN READ5-MINFinbarr Berminghamin BrusselsPublished: 6:00pm, 4 May 2026In an abandoned Norwegian mine last year, an unusual experiment produced results that drew scrutiny in boardrooms and government offices across Europe and helped to spark new regulations pouring fuel on already fiery EU-China relations.Ruter, the public transport authority for greater Oslo, drove new and used electric buses made by Chinese manufacturing conglomerate Yutong into a decommissioned mineshaft inside a mountain.
There, cybersecurity tests revealed that the buses could be remotely deactivated and that even from within the mine the Chinese supplier had remote access to the vehicles for software updates and diagnostics.
The experiment helped trigger a chain of events illustrating an increasingly combative legislative landscape that is elevating what the European Union sees as its “systemic rivalry” with China to new levels.
Welcome to the era of accelerating georegulatory statecraft.
The Europe-China trade relationship: deficits, disputes and de-risking
The Europe-China trade relationship: deficits, disputes and de-riskingIn this brave new world, one side crafts regulation out of fear that the other side’s rules may expose its vulnerabilities. One law begets another; rules are built in opposition to each other and companies from both sides say it is becoming almost impossible to comply with both.
