APA Chairman: Siemens follows Siemens – Economy


Siemens boss Roland Busch will take over the leadership of the Asia-Pacific Committee (APA) in the fall. So Busch becomes the class spokesman for the German economy in the Far East – as is so often the case with a Siemens manager. Heinrich von Pierer was the founding chairman in 1993 until the corruption scandal carried him out of office. Siemens chairman Peter Löscher later headed the committee. In autumn 2018, Busch’s predecessor Joe Kaeser was elected APA chairman. And Busch is now taking over from Kaeser. “Every single country in the Asia-Pacific economic area also offers great opportunities for the German economy,” said the designated APA boss. It is important to leverage this potential. And its predecessor Kaeser added that China is the dominant driver in the region, which will have a major impact on world events in the coming decades.

What sounds a bit like an ancestral farm is different in this case. Hardly any other DAX board member is as familiar with Asia and especially China as Busch, who has a doctorate in physics. Before he became CEO of Siemens, he was responsible for the group’s Asian business for a while. Above all, however, the 56-year-old lived in Shanghai for a few years and managed the Siemens automotive division VDO, which has since been sold. In contrast to many of his colleagues, he not only knows the five-star hotels and airport lounges in what is by far the largest economy in the region, but also the other part of China, where the facades do not glow in bright colors at night. He has dealt with Chinese culture and society and speaks the language a little.

This is important because the relationship between the German economy and China has become complicated. The boom country, in which until a few years ago the growth rates were higher than anywhere else in the world, has become a strategic competitor who promotes its own companies – not always with fair means. Companies from abroad are regularly disadvantaged in tenders. Many foreign companies were also asked to set up party cells in their factories, that is, offshoots of the Communist Party. And then a few weeks ago the apparatus introduced an anti-sanctions law that threatens to seriously change the business relationships of foreign companies in the People’s Republic. Anyone who adheres to the sanctions imposed by the American government on Chinese companies for violating human rights, for example, must expect consequences in the people’s courts. Turbulent times for the new APA boss.

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