Should I register my trademark in China alongside the EU right from the start, or wait for validation?

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Hi everyone,

I have a question that’s causing me a bit of stress, and I’d love to get some input from those of you who have more experience with this.

Context: I found a market gap in the EU and will be focusing on selling products to meet this demand (I won’t go into specific details, but they are kitchenware products). To do this, I need to build a brand and work on it so people trust it and buy from it. I’m planning to register my trademark across the entire EU to secure my rights and do everything properly.

The “Problem”: I’m extremely anxious about registering the trademark in the EU but leaving it unprotected in China. We all know about “trademark squatting” over there—where suppliers or third parties hijack the brand of the people they are manufacturing for. This leaves the actual brand owners in the EU hostage to the factory in the future, or forces them to buy back their own trademark at exorbitant prices.

The Dilemma: What should I do? Should I register only in the EU for now, wait until the product proves to be a viable investment, and then register in China? OR should I register in both the EU and China from day one, even without knowing if the product/brand will be the big success I think it will be?

Important note: We arrived at this product/niche after an extensive amount of research, but that lingering insecurity is still there because absolutely nothing is guaranteed in business.

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in this exact situation. What did you do?