Germany must urge China to respect the confidentiality of business information in its new anti-espionage laws, the VDA, the powerful association of German carmakers, is set to say in a document already seen by the agency. Reuters.
The Mercedes plant in SindelfingenPhoto: BERND WEISSBROD / AFP / Profimedia
The VDA is to publish an 8-page document on China, the world’s largest car market, on Monday in response to the new doctrine published in July by the government led by Olaf Scholz on its strategic vision for relations with China.
Among other things, the new strategy presents several proposals on reducing the critical dependence on China, a position previously agreed within the European Union.
The document to be published in response by the VDA, the association representing car manufacturers such as BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, welcomes the fact that Scholz’s government has rejected “decoupling” from China in favor of the strategic de-dependence strategy, an option called by some Western analysts “de-risking”.
But Germany’s big carmakers also warn against government meddling in business decisions, saying it should instead support diversification strategies.
German carmakers are calling for investment protectionism to be avoided
The VDA also notes that the doctrine adopted by Scholz’s government allows for the free exchange of data between China and Germany, but that the 64-page document in which the German executive presented it makes no reference whatsoever to the new cyber security laws adopted by Beijing or its new anti-espionage legislation, which prohibits the transfer outside the country of any information related to “national security”.
“We believe that the government has a duty to campaign in Beijing for business data privacy, to talk about the subject of the law’s impact and look for a solution together,” the VDA urges.
The association also notes that any reform of German legislation to better protect the country’s critical infrastructure should avoid explicitly accusing some countries of being security threats.
“Germany should not send a signal of increased investment protectionism,” the VDA also writes.
At the regional level, the VDA asks the European Commission to respect economic freedom in the context in which the executive in Brussels is preparing an instrument for verifying foreign investments made in the EU bloc.
“State intervention should only take place as a measure of last resort in exceptional cases where serious threats to security can be proven,” the association of German car manufacturers notes in this regard.
