Don’t let China’s outdated cybersecurity laws block cooperation on the digital economy

The world’s 20 largest economies will gather in Hangzhou ( 杭州 ) under the Chinese presidency on September 4 and 5 for their annual summit. In the light of sluggish world growth, finding new avenues for future growth will be high on the agenda. Following this logic, the G20 will focus on the digital economy as one of the prime motors for invigorating the global economy.

Enmeshing Germany’s “Industry 4.0” – shorthand for a fourth industrial revolution – with China’s industrial modernisation blueprint, “Made in China 2025”, may be the most important cooperation project between Germany and China. It is certainly the boldest: if it succeeds, our two economies and scientific establishments will achieve a quantum leap of integration.

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Germany’s Industry 4.0 plan aims to achieve an entirely new manufacturing process. It involves unhindered and enhanced data transfer not only between one company’s different manufacturing plants but also between different producers, suppliers and logistics providers along the entire value chain. This will create highly complex networks where processes are guided by machine-to-machine communication – that is, without human intervention. More and more, machines will “talk to each other” directly and, in a globalised world, it goes without saying that it will only develop its potential if these “conversations” take place unhindered across national borders.

China’s “Made in China 2025” is not identical to Germany’s Industry 4.0. Its aims are broader: it wants to propel China further where it already has a technological edge and also enhance China’s overall competitiveness by moving manufacturing up the value chain across the board. The digital economy is a core element of China’s plan, as well as Germany’s.

Germany’s Merkel sees ties with Chinese premiers pay off

For this reason, Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Premier Li Keqiang ( 李克強 ) during her ninth visit to China in June to accelerate the pace of cooperation. This involves not only companies, but also research institutions and a raft of government departments and agencies. Politically, our cooperation in the digital economy received a further boost with our two countries reaching an agreement in June to oppose and combat state-sponsored or state-tolerated theft of commercial secrets in cyberspace and to set up a mechanism that deals with cases of infringement.