For years, the German auto industry has been hiding behind a narrative when asked about its high dependency on a country with an unpredictable regime. Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess once tried to make a historical comparison when asked why he was sticking to his plant in western China even though there were human rights violations against the Uyghur people in the region. “We were also in South Africa during apartheid. Shouldn’t we have done that?” said Diess and said that “even Nelson Mandela said later” that it was “a good thing that we stayed in South Africa despite apartheid”. Last week, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Diess summarized the position in one sentence: German industry “cannot limit itself to working only with democracies”.
Gustave parts
Business correspondent in Stuttgart.
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These or similar formulations can also be heard from other German car managers who long for a normalization of the conditions in the currently shattered global economy. But since Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and China’s questionable role, nothing is normal anymore. After the recent documentation of human rights violations in Xinjiang, Western politicians are increasingly criticizing China. Tensions around Taiwan are growing. The rigorous lockdowns and their consequences for the economy and supply chains show what the Beijing regime is capable of. This puts increasing pressure on the auto industry, which has been doing excellent business in the People’s Republic for years, to put its local work on a completely new footing.