FRANCE/FILE: French intelligence services investigate possible role of China in industrial espionage case at carmaker Renault

Record ID: 722209

  • Title: FRANCE/FILE: French intelligence services investigate possible role of China in industrial espionage case at carmaker Renault
  • Date: 8th January 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF ZOE RENAULT ELECTRIC CAR
  • Embargoed: 23rd January 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA6EF09P8ZEIHJX7S9X1KCODL9W
  • Story Text: French intelligence services were on Friday (January 7) looking into China's possible role in an industrial espionage scandal at carmaker Renault that a senior minister has said involved "economic warfare", a government source told Reuters.
    Three Renault executives, including one member of its management committee, were suspended on Monday (January 3) in the case, which has prompted the French government to warn of an "overall risk" to French industry.
    The executives are suspected of leaking information related to the high-profile electric vehicle programme, a key plank of the carmaker's strategy in which, together with its Japanese partner Nissan, it is investing billions of euros.
    Renault is due to launch its Fluence family model and the Kangoo utility model this year (2011).
    Another model which was displayed at the Paris motorshow last September 2010, Zoe, is due to hit the market in 2012.
    Christian Harbulot, director of the French school of economic warfare in Paris, said the case highlighted the competitiveness in the industry.
    "The Renault affair is like light from a torch that suddenly illuminates this reality which we didn't want to see, which is unpleasant to look at, because it highlights the problem of an economic world which is not pacified despite the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) a while ago, despite the World Trade Organisation and that it is a conflictual world," Harbulot said, adding the case to other financial crises around the world.
    China, where auto exhaust emissions account for around 70 percent of air pollution in major cities, is pushing green vehicles heavily.
    Relations between France and China hit a low roughly two years ago when Sarkozy criticised Beijing's policy on Tibet, prompting Chinese citizens to call for boycotts of French products.
    But a recent visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Paris helped forge closer ties, as France seeks to secure Chinese support for its ambitious G20 agenda to explore reforms of the global monetary system.
    A government source said French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office had ordered the investigation. Renault, which declined to comment, is 15 percent owned by the French state.
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