Media report: No government guarantees for Volkswagen in China

Volkswagen Group should not receive guarantees from the federal government for planned investments in factories in China. According to Spiegel, reports about the repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang are to blame.

The Federal Ministry of Economics denies Volkswagen Group investment guarantees for new projects in China. This was reported by “Spiegel”. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs said, according to the newspaper, “for reasons related to human rights,” the ministry rejected for the first time four requests submitted by a company to extend investment guarantees. She did not mention the name of the company in question. Spiegel relies on its own information, which it says relates to Volkswagen.

Volkswagen is still waiting for an answer

As Spiegel reported, Volkswagen has confirmed that it has made similar requests, but is still waiting for an answer from the federal government. However, one would have already expected a rejection, which has become evident since the federal elections and the formation of the government.

The persecution of the Uyghurs must be the reason

The background to the rejection, according to Spiegel. Reports of Human Rights Violations Against Uyghur Muslims In the Xinjiang region of China. According to Spiegel, Volkswagen does not want to be in Controversial work there But otherwise, the ministry does not want to guarantee that either.

For Volkswagen, this means that the group will have to take on the risks of the planned business alone. According to “Spiegel”, unnamed Volkswagen circuits said this would not change the automaker’s plans.

There is no general rejection of warranties in China

When asked, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs did not want to confirm the report because nothing could be said about individual companies.

But it stressed that “for the first time, for human rights reasons, four applications submitted by a company to extend investment guarantees will not be accepted.” “The requests were related to a commercial site in Xinjiang, or the connection cannot be ruled out,” she continued. In principle, according to the spokeswoman, the government will no longer issue investment guarantees to companies in China if such projects are active in Xinjiang or have business relations there.

However, in the current legislative period, 13 other applications for investment guarantees have been approved – thus they have nothing to do with Xinjiang.