Germany blocks another big business deal with China

Germany has blocked the sale of a Volkswagen subsidiary to China on national security grounds, delivering a fresh blow to the already tense relationship with its biggest trading partner, the CNN writes.

MAN Energy Solutions, part of the Volkswagen Group, said in June 2023 that it planned to sell its gas turbines business to Chinese state-owned CSIC Longjiang GH Gas Turbine Co (GHGT). But a German government review, initiated in September, raised concerns that China might use the gas turbines to power warships, according to Reuters.

Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck said that Berlin welcomes investments from foreign companies, but technologies relevant to “public security” must be protected from countries “which maybe do not always have a friendly relationship with us.”