The German government launched a new round of actions against China on July 3, local time, Scholz publicly stopped the sale of the gas turbine business to Chinese companies by Volkswagen's company "MAN Energy Solutions", citing the so-called "national security", and senior German government officials said that gas turbine technology involves "public order". However, as soon as the German government made this decision, the Chinese side announced a major breakthrough in gas turbines.
According to a report by the Financial Associated Press on July 4, a 15-megawatt heavy-duty gas turbine developed by a Chinese enterprise rolled off the assembly line in Deyang, Sichuan, which is another important progress in the mainland's equipment manufacturing industry after the 50-megawatt heavy-duty gas turbine was domestically produced. According to the person in charge of the relevant enterprise, only one 15 MW heavy-duty gas turbine can meet the electricity demand of 2,500 families for one day in one hour, and it is also more environmentally friendly than thermal power generation units with the same power generation, which can reduce carbon emissions by more than 150,000 tons a year.
Taiwanese media called gas turbines the "crown jewel" of the equipment manufacturing industry, which shows the importance of gas turbines. However, in recent years, every time China's industry picks up a "crown jewel", there is a group of people who downplay the significance of this breakthrough, just as they attack Chinese manufacturing in the fields of shield machines, high-speed rail, machine tools, etc. But China's achievements in the field of gas turbines are here, and in March 2023, the F-class 50 MW gas turbine manufactured by Chinese enterprises rolled off the assembly line; In February 2024, the F-class 300 MW gas turbine with independent intellectual property rights rolled off the assembly line, which fully reflects the technical reserves and manufacturing capabilities of Chinese enterprises in the field of gas turbines, which is not diverted by the inconsistent statements of some people.
Realistically speaking, the breakthrough that China has just made in the field of gas turbines has undoubtedly put the German government, which prohibits technology transfer, into a situation where it cherishes itself. The gas turbine technology that MAN Energy plans to transfer to Chinese companies is concentrated in the range of about 6 megawatts to 20 megawatts, which is just within the scope of the latest breakthrough made by Chinese companies. In this context, it is meaningless for Germany to suspend the cooperation between MAN Energy Solutions and Chinese companies, as it not only reflects the "differential treatment" of the German government, but also delays the normal transformation of MAN Energy Solutions.
This kind of "slap in the face" plot illustrates the fact that the various sanctions and containment measures imposed by the West on all walks of life against China will only make China spend more effort in independent research and development, and China will never sit idly by and watch the situation of "stuck" happen.
That's because China has a huge domestic market of 1.4 billion people, and even if the West tries to isolate China from its technological system, the demand generated by this market will make companies struggle to make a profit. For example, Bill Gates once commented on the US blockade of China's semiconductors: The US approach will only force China to spend time and money to make its own chips, and the United States will never succeed in preventing China from having powerful chips. However, politicians in some Western countries still put political impact first and continue to increase sanctions.
As a result of such sanctions, China's industrial output will account for 35% of the world's output in 2023, more than the second to tenth places combined. China and the United States have fought a trade war for many years, and China's industrial output value has risen instead of falling, and has made great progress in independence, and breakthroughs have been made one after another. In the past four days of July, China has made new achievements in the fields of all-solid-state batteries and 18-meter slewing rings, and the "crown jewel of industry" has been picked up by China. The German government should recognize this situation and stop making such "slap in the face" jokes.