He visited the Great Wall of China, observed pandas and met the prime minister: Bavarian Prime Minister Söder described his trip to China as a complete success. The SPD sees it differently – and speaks of “megalomania”.
A “complete success”, a policy of long lines and “safeguarding” for the economy – a few days ago the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder gave an exuberantly positive assessment of his trip to China on the social network X – the embedded video showed him, among other things, at the Panda watching and on the Great Wall of China. The relationship with communist-ruled China is about “dialogue instead of demarcation”.
“Megalomania in the style of Ludwig II.”
The SPD foreign politician Michael Roth assesses the China trip completely differently. “Markus Söder is not the first state politician to try to pursue a secondary foreign policy. But rarely has anyone failed as badly as he did,” said the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag to the “Tagesspiegel”.
In China, Söder has “megalomania in the style of Ludwig II.” shown, says Roth. “The Bavarian regional politician boldly claims that there is a partnership of equals between the Free State and the communist regime of China.”
Roth remembers Isolation policy China’s
The SPD foreign policy expert emphasized that China is increasingly relying on isolation in its economic and trade policy, is acting much more aggressively externally and more repressively internally.
China denies European, German and Bavarian companies exactly the framework conditions that the dictatorship demands for its own state-owned companies in their drive for global expansion. There is no sign of a partnership on equal terms anywhere.
Söder is counteracting the foreign policy of Germany and the EU. According to Roth, this ignores the fact that the “overdue change in strategy and policy by Germany and the EU in dealing with China” was preceded by a dramatic change in strategy and policy in Beijing.
Söder speaks of “very appreciative” Meet
The CSU politician Söder comes to a completely different assessment. A meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang was “very appreciative”. “We’re already talking on equal terms – and that’s something special.” And they want to continue the dialogue. He also mentioned the war in Ukraine and the human rights situation.
Söder was the first German Prime Minister to visit China since the end of the corona pandemic.
Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong
Germany and the EU have long been calling on Beijing to improve market conditions for foreign companies in China and to refrain from unfair practices. The Federal Government sees deficiencies in the People’s Republic when it comes to guaranteeing human rights. The new China strategy mentions, among other things, human rights violations of Uighurs in Xinjiang as well as the situation in Tibet and Hong Kong.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is considered a critic of the People’s Republic and described Chinese state and party leader Xi Jinping as a dictator in September last year. She also repeatedly warns against Chinese expansion efforts in the South China Sea.