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Rudolf Scharping has been organizing a German-Chinese economic conference for years. Experts criticize Report Mainz the commitment of the former top politician. The accusation: He is making himself the mouthpiece of China.
Rudolf Scharping is apparently a welcome guest in Chinese state media. The former Defense Minister, SPD Federal Chairman and Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, says in cameras sentences such as “the establishment of a constitutional state” in China is “in progress” and the system cannot be compared with our “classic ideas of dictatorship”.
In German television media, however, you can hardly find any current interviews with the now 75-year-old. Dem ARD political magazine Report Mainz He announced that he would only be available for an interview in front of the camera if it was conducted “live”, “that is, not a compilation”.
Mareike Ohlberg, sinologist at the American foundation German Marshall Fund, sees the former top politician as a so-called “friend of the Chinese people.” The term is an established term in China and describes a person who is “politically willing to support the Chinese party-state and to advocate for the interests of the Chinese party-state.”
In addition, Scharping is “certainly perceived as someone who builds economic relationships with foreign countries, establishes connections and possibly brings German companies to China.”
Experts criticize Scharping’s role
After his political career ended in 2002, Scharping founded a consulting firm. According to the homepage, he advises “among others, customers in the areas of automobiles, mechanical engineering, chemistry, medicine and health” and “urban planning and business park design”. His focus: China. On the company website he advertises his former positions as “Federal Minister of Defense, Chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag and Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate.”
In Chinese media reports, the first two previous official titles are usually included in his name. This was also the case last year, when Scharping was named in an article in the newspaper “China Daily” (Hong Kong Edition) as the only German congratulator at the opening of the 20th Party Congress – a party congress that allows Xi Jinping to hold office for life.
In 2021, according to a Chinese website, Scharping provided a speech to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that said: “On the ‘100th birthday’ of the Communist Party of China […] remembering the countless people who fought for it and even sacrificed their lives.”
Comprehensive lists of questions unanswered
Ralph Weber, political scientist at the European Institute at the University of Basel, considers this statement to be remarkable. “He’s not talking about the victims that the party has caused, but rather the sacrifices that it has made – and that as a former federal minister.” If one tries to “find possible areas for cooperation” in China, that might be understandable, but “from a liberal democratic perspective” it is at least “questionable.”
Comprehensive questionnaires that Report Mainz Scharping sent it unanswered. However, he let it be known in general through a lawyer: “I repeatedly address critical issues such as human rights and points to be criticized about the rule of law and democracy in China in various media and at various forums. I am also of the opinion that, despite fundamental differences, there are common global challenges such as Peace, climate change and others can only be solved together through dialogue.”
Andreas Fulda, political scientist at the University of Nottingham, also criticizes Scharping for his statements in connection with China. In an interview with Report Mainz He expressed the impression that Scharping had “a commercial interest in the country”. He would also find this less problematic “if he wasn’t doing it as a former top German politician.”
Prominent guests from politics and business
Two weeks ago, Scharping’s German-Chinese economic conference took place for the tenth time, this year in Darmstadt. The event is known for the fact that Chinese and German representatives of high-ranking companies and well-known politicians appear there. Guests known from politics in Germany in recent years included Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU), Brigitte Zypries (SPD), Norbert Walter-Borjans (SPD), Günther Oettinger (CDU) and Volker Wissing (FDP). This is shown by documents about the events on Scharping’s consulting firm homepage.
This year, Thuringia’s Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD) took part in the conference’s official dinner in the Darmstadt Orangery. Hans-Peter Friedrich said according to information from Report Mainz due to illness. Sigmar Gabriel is said to have attended an unofficial dinner with, among others, the Chinese ambassador the evening before the conference, but left at short notice before the conference began. Both Friedrich and Gabriel left questions about this unanswered.
Co-organizer part of the Chinese International Department
Were the “critical issues” raised by Scharping in his statement heard at the conference? Report Mainz first requested participation in the conference in August, but despite repeated requests, never received an answer.
Still has for that ARD-Political magazine someone is watching the event. The person describes their personal impression in the conversation Report Mainz like this: “In my view, human rights violations or the problems in and with China were not an issue.” According to her impression, the big problem there was “actually seen as the current critical attitude of politics and society towards China.”
defense of Constitution advises against contact
As in previous years, the conference was co-organized by the Chinese organization “China Economic Cooperation Center” (CECC). According to its own statements, the CECC is “directly subordinate” to the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
In July, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution issued a security advisory for politics and administration in which the authority recommended “particular caution and restraint” when contacting members of the International Department, as the department acts “de facto like an intelligence service.”
The Chinese embassy rejects the accusation, wrote to the ARD-Political magazine, the International Department is “open, transparent and therefore in no way a ‘secret or intelligence service’, as it has been defamed by some authorities.”
Expert sees political influence work
According to sinologist Mareike Ohlberg, the central tasks of the international department are political influence abroad and the attempt to establish contacts for this purpose. In an interview with Report Mainz She said that, in her opinion, the co-organizer’s affiliation with the International Department indicated that it was “not just about economic cooperation.” The CECC is “clearly part of our own political influence work”.
This also includes influencing China’s external image. When asked what he said about the security advice from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution regarding the economic conference, Tiefensee said Report Mainz on the sidelines of the official dinner of the conference participants, it was “always problematic overall with states that do not have democracy, […] “To have and find contacts who are not connected to the system in any way.” He believes it is still good “that we find platforms to maintain mutual exchange.”
Current politics refers to Scharping as a private individual
And what does current politics say about the commitment to China of a former defense minister and SPD chairman? Even before the federal government’s current China strategy? Many of the politicians contacted did not respond to the request. A spokesman for the SPD said Report Mainz in writing that Rudolf Scharping’s time as deputy and later party chairman was “almost 25 years ago”.
He is “no longer a representative of the SPD, but acts privately.” A spokesman for the Foreign Office wrote that Scharping is not a member of the current federal government. His statements “should therefore not be interpreted as statements by the federal government or Germany’s foreign policy positioning.”
Criticism from the CDU/CSUBundestag faction
Michael Brand, spokesman for human rights in the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, sees it differently. In an interview with Report Mainz He said that, from his point of view, Scharping had “simply sold himself and his soul.” He has thus “also become an instrument of one of the greatest dictatorships in history, which threatens our freedom and our way of life.”
The Chinese embassy shared Report Mainz When asked, Scharping has “long played a role as a constructive and critical mediator in promoting exchange and cooperation between China and Germany.”