Econ Min-No US Pressure To Reduce China Reliance, In Our Self-Interest

Speaking at a press conference, German Economy Minister and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck has stated that there is "no pressure from the US" to reduce Germany's reliance in high-tech areas on China. States that, "it is in our own well-understood interest to take a closer look" at Germany's supply chains in critical areas.

• The comments come after a report in Zeit Online on 8 March stating that the German gov't was planning to ban telecoms firms from using various components from Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE, sparking an angry response from the Chinese gov't. Other countries including Australia, Japan, the UK and US have all taken similar action.
• The embassy in Berlin issued a statement saying that “If the report is true, China is very puzzled and strongly dissatisfied that the relevant German government departments made the [...] decision without any factual basis...China firmly opposes Germany’s generalisation of the concept of national security and abuse of state power to intervene in the market in its cooperation with China, which not only violates economic laws and the principle of fair competition, but also harms others rather than benefits itself."