The public humiliation of Hu Jintao at the CP party conference in Beijing stems from a tradition of communist dictatorship – and it was intended to be just that. Everyone who wants to do business with the People’s Republic should keep that in mind.
comment by
Joachim Kaeppner
At first glance, the public humiliation of a top communist official in Beijing and the planned sale of part of the Port of Hamburg to the Chinese state-owned company Cosco have nothing to do with each other. When China’s former head of state and party leader Hu Jintao was apparently led out of the CP Party Congress hall against his will at the weekend, this was probably a signal from the current incumbent Xi Jinping to the outside world that all power now rests with him. Regardless of what is going on inside the Chinese party apparatus, German supporters of the port deal like Chancellor Olaf Scholz see it as strengthening Germany as a maritime location. They misjudge what is at stake.