Before Chancellor Olaf Scholz travels to Beijing, the focus is on the protection of human rights: How should Germany deal with authoritarian China? One of the experts calling for a radical change of course in China policy is Hanno Schedler. He works for the Society for Threatened Peoples and has long observed how the Chinese leadership deals with the Tibetans, the Mongols and the Uyghurs.
SZ: Mr. Schedler, the Chinese embassy in Berlin intervened at the federal press conference this week because you appeared there with the prominent Uyghur representative Dolkun Isa. Did that intimidate you?
Hanno Schedler: Of course not. The Chinese Embassy is very active in intimidating people who have had to flee China. In this respect, the attempt to influence is not surprising. China has labeled Dolkun Isa a terrorist for decades and is trying to silence him. Fortunately, there is freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Germany.
What does the action say about the Chinese regime?
A dictatorial regime cannot handle criticism. From the point of view of the state leadership, Scholz’s visit should primarily be about deepening economic relations. Critical events disrupt the PR strategy. China wants to present itself as a united friendly nation.
Has the human rights situation in China recently deteriorated?
Re-education camps, the death penalty, censorship and the oppression of minorities have been known for years. However, the Chinese government has used the corona pandemic to massively expand the surveillance of its own population and to spread propaganda.
Hanno Schedler heads the human rights departments at the Society for Threatened Peoples eV
(Photo: Society for Threatened Peoples eV/OH)
What is your biggest concern?
The genocide of the Uyghurs in the northwest of the country with re-education camps and forced labor. Hundreds of thousands of children are separated from their families and sent to state boarding schools. There they only learn Mandarin, i.e. High Chinese, no longer Uyghur. They become alienated from their own culture. Tens of thousands of Uyghur women have been forcibly sterilized. That’s why one has to speak of genocide: The Chinese government wants there to be fewer Uyghurs.
What is the role of President Xi Jinping?
His concern is to “sinicize” the respective religion, i.e. the Sunni Islam of the Uyghurs or the Buddhism of the Tibetans. This means bringing religions under the control of the Communist Party. China is also doing the same in Inner Mongolia and Hong Kong. Everywhere the regime relies on forced assimilation. Autonomous ethnic groups are increasingly controlled and marginalized.
German companies are also repeatedly criticized for their involvement in China. There are regular revelations, for example about forced labor in the Xinjiang region.
Many companies simply rely on official promises from the Chinese side. We demand that companies like Volkswagen disclose their supply chains. And as for the VW plant, which is located in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi: we demand that it be closed. Because a few kilometers away is the next re-education camp.
Critics say that decoupling from China would endanger prosperity in Germany.
No one is saying all companies should pull out of China. It is primarily about companies withdrawing from regions that are characterized by the most serious violations of human rights. In addition, Germany is extremely dependent on China in certain sectors. These dependencies must be reduced. It hurts in the short term, but it’s better in the long run.
The traffic light coalition agreement states: “We are clearly addressing China’s human rights violations, especially in Xinjiang.”
Parts of the government know that the German China policy has to change because of the systematic violations of human rights by the Chinese government. But unfortunately this knowledge does not seem to have reached the Chancellery and Olaf Scholz.
The mistakes in dealing with Russia have been much discussed. What mistakes has Germany made in dealing with China?
Since Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the Europeans have been coordinating very closely on how to deal with Russia. The same must happen with China from now on. China policy must become European. We must not wait until China has attacked Taiwan. With the participation of Cosco in the port of Hamburg, Scholz has once again sent the wrong signal to a dictatorship.
The Chancellor lands in China on Friday morning. He is the first western head of state to visit for a third term after Xi Jinping’s coronation. The world public is watching. What do you expect from him specifically on site?
Scholz has to comment on specific human rights issues. He should say that the Chinese government must change its policy towards the Uyghurs and Tibetans immediately. He should also address Taiwan and make it clear: Germany and the EU do not want China to attack Taiwan. My concern is that he won’t do that, but generalities will fall.
And as soon as Scholz is back?
I hope that the federal government will then finally present a well-founded China strategy with a strong focus on human rights issues. The federal government must also ensure the highest possible standards in supply chain legislation. So there must be no “business as usual” in German China policy. Olaf Scholz still has the chance to correct mistakes.