Visit to Beijing
Baerbock meets top Chinese foreign policymaker
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shakes hands with Wang Yi. photo
© Soeren Stache/dpa
Taiwan and human rights: The German Foreign Minister is visiting Beijing and is also addressing difficult issues in talks with high-ranking Chinese politicians.
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock continued her two-day inaugural visit to Beijing with a meeting with China’s top foreign policy expert, Wang Yi. The Chinese government’s controversial backing for the Russian war in Ukraine, the situation in Taiwan and human rights violations in China are also likely to play a role in this conversation. Baerbock met with Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Deputy President Han Zheng on Friday.
At the end of her visit to Beijing, Baerbock wanted to find out more about the work at Volkswagen’s research and development center. Products for all VW brands have been developed there since 2013. In addition to interior design and vehicle safety, the focus is on e-mobility and connectivity. The minister was to be accompanied during the visit by VW China board member Ralf Brandstätter.
The Volkswagen Group had come under criticism for a plant in the Xinjiang region. After a visit there at the end of February, Brandstätter said they wanted to stick to the site, but took the critical reports very seriously. China’s central government has long been accused of systematically repressing the Muslim Uyghurs in the western province. Brandstätter had emphasized that there was no evidence of human rights violations in the plant. A report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2022 denounced severe repression in Xinjiang and referred to re-education camps where Uyghurs were mistreated.
Baerbock wanted to continue to South Korea on Saturday morning. There she wants to meet with Foreign Minister Park Jin for talks during her inaugural visit to the capital Seoul. Immediately after their arrival, a visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the border with North Korea was planned. Almost half of South Korea’s almost 52 million inhabitants live in the metropolitan area around Seoul, which is close to this border.
South Korea is the tenth largest economy and the seventh largest exporter in the world. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have escalated in recent months. After an unprecedented series of missile tests last year, North Korea has again tested nuclear-capable missiles several times this year.