German-Chinese government consultations are nothing but symbolic politics

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the fourth German-Chinese government consultations are “disappointing from the viewpoint of human rights”. “Apart from the fact that the Chancellor half-heartedly mentioned the importance of the rule of law, there are no tangible results concerning the aspect of human rights,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s China-expert, in Göttingen on Tuesday. The jointly adopted six-page statement clearly shows that human rights are not an important issue in the relationship between the two countries. The document contains only three meaningless lines addressing the aspect of human rights. “But it gets worse: The declaration is similar to Chinese laws. It is not binding, and it leaves a lot of room for interpretation. It’s squishy – nothing in the way of a benchmark paper that could set standards to assess the cooperation,” criticized Delius. Further, the envisaged cooperation between the two countries raises many critical questions about the rule of law.

“Nonetheless, we would like to thank the Chancellor for not leaving out critical aspects entirely – as she did emphasize the importance of the rule of law,” said the STP’s China-expert. “However – in view of the arbitrary arrests of human rights activists and lawyers, the unfair trials, the massive violations of freedom of belief, cases of torture and deaths due to violence in prisons – we had hoped for an agenda that pays more regard to human rights.” A few days before the visit of the German Chancellor, China issued a ‘White Paper’ focusing on religious freedom in Xinjiang, stating that the Muslim Uyghur have never before enjoyed as much religious freedom as they do now. Chancellor Merkel decided to remain silent about this, despite the systematic denial of religious freedom and the tensions in the conflict region of Xinjiang.

“As human rights advocates, we are however alarmed by the fact that the joint statement of the two countries contains a passage in which they announce more cooperation to try and fight ‘malicious cyber activities’,” emphasized Delius. “The authorities of the People’s Republic are even trying to discredit campaigns our human rights organization for more Internet or religious freedom in China.” What appears to be even more problematic are the planned cooperation to combat terrorism and the exchange of police information. “China’s authorities follow a peculiar definition of ‘terrorism’, and they don’t feel they have to respect constitutional obligations. Another very problematic aspect is that of prosecution in cases of alleged corruption. Germany should avoid being instrumentalized in internal power struggles within the Chinese leadership.”