PARIS, (Reuters) – French intelligence services are investigating a possible Chinese connection in an industrial espionage scandal at carmaker Renault, a government source said yesterday.
Industry Minister Eric Besson, who spoke earlier this week of a case that smacked of “economic warfare”, said no official inquiry had been opened and this would happen only if the carmaker lodged a formal complaint.
Asked about the possible Chinese lead, Besson said: “I am not authorised to say anything at all on the subject.”
Three Renault executives, including one member of its management committee, were suspended on Monday in the case, which has prompted the French government to warn of a widespread 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.
Le Point news magazine reported on its website, citing sources, that the espionage targeted battery technology which had not yet been patented.
Renault, which declined to comment, is 15 percent owned by the French state. None of the executives has a high profile among investors or in the media.
“The DCRI (intelligence service) is working on this case. It is in contact with Renault,” said the government source, adding the China connection was a possibility being explored but not for now in any way substantiated.
Relations between France and China hit a low two years ago when French President Nicolas Sarkozy criticised Beijing’s policy on Tibet.
But a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Paris late last year helped forge closer ties as France seeks to secure Chinese support for reform of the global monetary system under its presidency of the Group of 20 club of economic powers.
Bernard Carayon, a lawmaker, told Reuters France needed tougher laws to defend itself in a “war” against fast-growing emerging economies hungry for new technology.
“This is a war which does not stop worsening and which has intensified even more with the emergence of industrial powers like China,” said Carayon, a member of the ruling UMP party who is drafting a law on the protection of economic information.
Most at risk from spying were sectors with long development times such as cars, pharmaceuticals and defence, he said.
“There is a big temptation to cheat to win the race when you are behind,” he said.
This is not a first for France’s car industry.
In 2007, a Chinese student on a work placement at car parts maker Valeo was given a prison sentence for obtaining confidential documents. A court stopped short of an industrial espionage verdict, instead finding she had “abused trust”.
Christian Harbulot, head of France’s School of Economic Warfare, which trains students in economic intelligence, told Reuters TV: “It’s a new world. In this new world there are players with completely different behaviour”.
Claude Moniquet, head of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center in Brussels, said it was also possible that the case involved straightforward industrial espionage conducted by a commercial rival of Renault.
“It is not surprising that Renault and in particular its electric car programme has been targeted because it is an enormous company and it is an enormous project. Everyone wants to develop a viable electric car,” said Moniquet.
“But what’s surprising is the level of penetration… Usually in cases of this kind the actual spying involves people at a much lower level.”
CHINA’S ELECTRIC AMBITION
While China has been known since the 1980s for commercial espionage, particularly in industries where it believes it is lagging the West, no country is considered clean.
