The vice chancellor of Germany has reportedly proposed tightening the screening process for foreign direct investment from China, according to reports from local media outlets.
Rober Habeck, a member of the Green coalition and federal minister for economic affairs and climate action, said the tightening of restrictions on Chinese foreign investment would be in “critical sectors,” which include semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI).
It aims to consolidate and simplify a number of existing rules pertaining to sectors in which China is dominant, such as those mentioned above. He also reportedly proposed cracking down on Chinese efforts to bypass existing rules.
This proposal comes a month after comments from Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s minister for foreign affairs, during a speech warning of China becoming increasingly “repressive internally and more aggressive externally.”
China hat sich in den letzten Jahren so rasant verändert, wie vielleicht kein anderes Land. Wer #China zuhört, weiß, mit welchem Selbstbewusstsein es die Entwicklung dieses Jahrhunderts prägen wird. Mit der #ChinaStrategie geben wir uns für unsere Beziehungen den Kompass. 1/5
— Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock (@ABaerbock) July 13, 2023
Reportedly, the measures proposed by Habeck don’t focus on outbound investment into Chinese tech industries. This, however, was of primary focus in recently finalized rules coming from the United States, which are being considered by many European countries, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
The proposed legislation is awaiting remarks from various government departments before becoming official. German officials are also in the process of discussing AI regulations.
Germany is the largest economy in Europe and China is its largest trading partner, according to official statistics from the German government.
Cointelegraph reached out to the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action for further comments.
These moves out of Germany follow an ongoing quid pro quo regarding AI development and deployment between China and the United States.
After multiple instances of the U.S. tightening export controls and investment opportunities, China announced it would be tightening controls around the export of crucial chip-making materials.
The U.S. then responded by revealing plans to restrict China’s access to cloud computing services. Most recently, it has released a series of new rules regarding investments both from and to China in these two “critical sectors,” among others.
Meanwhile, in China, lawmakers have officially released and implemented regulations surrounding the development and deployment of AI in the country.
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After days of furore directed at Rishi Sunak for the election betting scandal, now a Labour candidate is under investigation by the Gambling Commission for his own betting activity – and is immediately suspended.
Is this an equaliser in one of the grubbiest electoral sagas of recent elections? Quite possibly not.
There is no doubting the utter dismay in Labour HQ at the revelation that they too have a candidate caught up in the betting scandal.
However, if this scenario is as presented, it is hard to see an allegation being mounted that he had insider intelligence on the race – unless it can be proved he was deliberately setting out to lose.
An under-pressure Gambling Commission will investigate every candidate’s name on the spreadsheet from gambling companies of those who placed bets – but it is unclear from available facts where this will go.
The Tory betting saga, however, is more complicated and now on its 13th day.
It was almost two weeks ago that Craig Williams – Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide and former Montgomeryshire MP – admitted he had placed a bet on the election date – a date he might have known before the public at large.
He denies he committed any offence, and remains under investigation.
Laura Saunders, standing for the Tories just south in Bristol North West, has also been suspended for putting a bet on the date when her partner worked in Conservative headquarters on the election.
For most of that time, Mr Sunak has been insisting he could not suspend either candidate because of the ongoing probe by the Gambling Commission.
Ministers, as well as opponents, weighed in.
And on Tuesday he reversed that decision under that pressure.
This means there are questions about the prime minister’s own judgement and unwillingness to act on top of questions about the behaviour of those closest to him.
Image: Craig Williams and Laura Saunders have both been suspended from the Tories. Pics: PA/Laura Saunders for Bristol North West
This story has had massive cut through with the public, topping the charts for any news story in the UK – according to YouGov’s AI news tracker – for the last four days.
There is dismay from the cabinet downwards.
Labour’s own problems have undermined their own ability to go on the attack. But it is not clear that voters will see the two issues on the same scale.
The full list of the candidates running for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich is:
Charlie Caiger, independent; Tony Gould, Reform UK; Mike Hallatt, independent; Brett Alistair Mickelburgh, Lib Dems; Dan Pratt, Greens; Patrick Spencer, Conservatives.
The full list of candidates for Bristol North West is:
Caroline Gooch, Lib Dems; Darren Jones, Labour; Scarlett O’Connor, Reform UK; Mary Page, Green Party; Ben Smith, SDP.
The full list of candidates for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr is:
Jeremy Brignell-Thorp, Green Party; Oliver Lewis, Reform UK; Glyn Preston, Lib Dems; Elwyn Vaughan, Plaid Cymru; Steve Witherden, Labour.