Dieter Kempf, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), has warned that government intervention to prevent investment from abroad will always pose a challenge to our governance principles, which we have to thank for prosperity and a highly innovative and globally competitive national economy.11 Rather than adopting special measures to fend off Chinese investors, I think it would be better to work towards developing suitable multilateral rules and a level playing field in matters of market access.
Another important measure would be to press for compliance with the existing rules. Unfair trading practices such as dumping cannot be tolerated. In the steel sector, especially, that appears to be a problem in connection with overcapacities in China.