Lambsdorff: renegotiate CAI + Baidu produces new AI chip • China.Table

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Dear reader,

Technological competition between Europe and China is on our minds across the board today. While EU Commission President von der Leyen is pushing for the resurrection of a domestic chip industry, China is already showing off the results of its own, very similar initiative. The IT group Baidu is beginning the production of chips with particularly filigree conductor tracks. So far, only Taiwan, the US, and South Korea have mastered this technology. It is certainly a good thing that the EU is dealing with such issues at all. However, in direct competition with China, the push for an industrial policy comes far too late, as usual.

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the deputy parliamentary party leader of the German FDP party, is also dealing with a similar topic. As part of our series ahead of the German federal elections, we asked him how his party positions itself in questions regarding China. The FDP politician favors a free flow of commodities instead of striving for excessive autarky and isolation: “In times of growing populism and nationalism, the German government must counter protectionist tendencies within Europe and the world,” he demands.

Nevertheless, according to Graf Lambsdorff’s ideas, the future federal government should defend liberal values and stand up for human rights. They are not mutually exclusive: Only those who negotiate diligently while staying true to their own positions will end up with a good deal.

Your
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk

Feature

“There is a need for amendments to the CAI”

The FDP politician Alexander Graf Lambsdorff is demanding a higher priority for China in the foreign policy strategy of the future German government. Brussels also concerns him on a particular issue: the CAI investment agreement. He calls for a renegotiation of the deal between the European Union and Beijing. China.Table’s questions were answered in writing. For more interviews with top German politicians ahead of the 2021 federal election, click here.

What is your priority: clear words on human rights or frictionless trade?

For us as liberals, human rights come first; we clearly criticize Xi Jinping’s increasingly authoritarian course. But this is not a contradiction to our desire to achieve improved market access and to shape successful economic relations with China. Many companies depend on China as a sales and procurement market or as a production site.

At the same time, China is dependent on the inflow of know-how and income from global trade. As a major economic and technology nation, Germany is therefore in a position to play a more visible role in the fight for human rights.

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