The aim of this federal government measure is to be able to check more employment cases in sensitive sectors. But does that make sense? Is this even the right construction site?
The push is of course directed primarily against China. But the United States is also in its sights, as the Trump administration systematically reviews takeovers by foreigners and even intervenes in Europe if takeovers in this country are viewed as critical for the United States.
For example at the German LED machine manufacturer Aixtron, which the Chinese wanted to take over. The Americans forbade this due to safety concerns. With regard to China, the Kuka takeover by Midea is repeatedly cited - the largest high-tech transaction from the Middle Kingdom to date.
The trigger for Altmaier's initiative is the outflow of technologies, which is caused by a reserved M
Mergers
In addition, the activities of foreign subsidiaries and branches are sources of technology transfer. This is a completely civil process and may even be necessary. After all, without training customers to use products and systems, they cannot operate the objects at all and would not even buy them.
The implementation of the technology transfer, which the Chinese in particular operate with great skill, is extremely critical in all three areas mentioned, including M
Subsidiaries are systematically spied on, the transfer of employees from foreign companies to Chinese competitors is encouraged. The activity of so-called party secretaries, which has recently even become mandatory for joint ventures with foreigners, is definitely aimed at finding and tapping into technologies.
Industrial espionage has never been as widespread as it is today. The US is no exception, and neither are we saints. The big fish today is on the internet and in cyber warfare. Under the guise of the military, not only information relevant to defense is tapped, but also - sometimes quite deliberately - information from industry.
This by-catch is then regularly sent to the company's own companies for training purposes. This goes so far that competitors in large industrial tenders can find out the latest bid information about their competitors' prices and technologies in real time. This is custom and has been the norm since the olden days. You just go as far as you can.
With today's tools of search algorithms, the interventions in all networks using artificial intelligence, this takes on extremely dramatic forms. The really big crackdown will come when nanocomputers are also used.
Because then hardly any encryption will hold up, because with the help of enormous computing power, all combinations of these digital access locks can be cracked in a very short time. It is then only a question of money – but the large state institutions are not lacking in that. The further development of the good side of artificial intelligence, which is in a constant race with perfidious missions, can probably help us.
Against this background, M
The noise about the "bad guys" - Trump language - M
As a result of this realization, attention is increasingly focused on trade relations. The USA, for example, want to completely ban Huawei as a supplier for their networks. They also expect the same from Germany, with the 5G expansion.
The positive contribution that M
There is no doubt that all efforts should be made to combat the practices that are now taking away inventors' assets and giving recipients the chance to acquire knowledge without doing their own research and development. M
We cannot avoid choosing the more uncomfortable, the tedious path, namely regular talks and negotiations in order to enforce symmetries and equal treatment in international behavior. Open discussions and naming mistakes have always led to improvements. The Chinese are not deaf either. They move, as the adjustment of their rules and laws in recent years shows.
The non-profit federal association Mergers
Important companies from both countries were involved, as well as top politicians from the federal, state and EU governments. A permanent Germany-USA discussion platform is in preparation. And one for Germany with Africa.
The author is chairman of the M
