Irritants surface in China-West European ties

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz could very well have broken rank with some of his fellow member states in the European Union by choosing to visit China with the aim of mending economic fences with the latter. Scholz sought to reassure the political leadership of the Union and their publics that he meant well by his visit by promising to take up with President Xi Jinping the question of ‘respect for civil and political liberties and the rights of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang Province’.

However, given the general vibrancy of human rights advocacy in the West, the issues in question are bound to crop up continually in Western Europe’s ties with China.

The allegation doing the rounds in the West is that the Chinese authorities are subjecting to genocide the Uyghur minority community in China, which, for some time now has been agitating for a measure of autonomy in its regions of habitation in the country. Over the years, sections of the Western media have been replete with footage of what is made out to be the persecution of the Uyghurs. Tens of thousands of members of the community are shown packed in narrow physical confines, which are made out to be ‘rehabilitation centres’. If authentic, such media coverage establishes the point that the Uyghurs’ fundamental rights are being grossly violated.

At the time of writing, it is not clear whether the German Chancellor has made a persuasive case for the Uyghurs with the Chinese political leadership. Equally importantly, it is not clear whether the Chinese authorities would be doing anything constructive, if convinced of the rightness of the Uyghur cause, to address the rights violations allegedly suffered by the minority. But one could be fairly certain that the alleged rights violations of the Uyghurs would intermittently surface in Germany’s ties with its allies in the EU and other like-minded sections in the West.

However, Germany could be expected to be in a hurry right now to ensure unruffled relations with China in consideration of its pressing economic concerns. Issues growing out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine have intensified these worries in recent times. Besides energy considerations, Germany’s need to ensure smooth trade and investment relations with China, in Europe’s current gathering economic discontent, could be considered as having urgently prompted the German Chancellor’s visit to China last Friday.

Apparently, Germany’s economic self-interest is over-riding all other considerations of relevance to its Western European allies in its present efforts to keep its economic fences intact with China. For Germany, it may not be quite to the point to be accused of being inconsistent in its standards and of being hypocritical. For, after having condemned authoritarian Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and after having doubled its efforts to arm the latter against the invader, here is Germany in an urgent attempt to maintain unruffled and advantageous economic ties with China; a state that is as authoritarian and undemocratic as Russia.

For Germany, its national interest is of prime importance and this is applicable to all states. Right now, it has no choice but to continue to work with and do business with China. May be as time goes by it could convince China of the advisability of managing Uyghur issues more insightfully.

A high-profile business delegation accompanied Chancellor Scholz to China and its composition reveals the economic considerations underlying the first visit undertaken by a prominent G7 leader, since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, to China. In the Chancellor’s delegation were the CEOs of the following business organizations: Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, Siemens and BASF, a ‘chemical giant’. Underscoring the economic importance of China to Germany are the following statistics as revealed in the media: 12 per cent of Germany’s imports last year were attributable to China. Eighty per cent of imported laptops, 70 per cent of mobile phones came from China. The latter accounted for 40 per cent of Volkswagen’s global deliveries in the first three quarters of 2022 and China is also rated as a top market for Mercedes Benz cars.

Reports also indicated that last year China was Germany’s biggest trading partner for the sixth consecutive year. China’s trade with Germany the same year was worth some $242 billion.

The above statistics alone point to the paramount importance of China for Germany in the economic sphere. Clearly, it would be self-defeating for Germany to draw back from sustaining its economic links with China, which comes a close second to the US as a foremost economic power.

However, how will Germany convince the human rights lobbies of the West that it is putting its best foot forward to advance the cause of human rights the world over, now that the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine is demonstrating in no uncertain terms that the legitimate rights of a people could be crushed underfoot by major powers that have no allegiance to democracy and its values?

This is a major poser with foreign policy implications for Germany and other big powers that lay claim to democratic credentials but who insist on not burning their economic boats with repressive states. More simply, how will they establish that they are not being hypocritical when they preach human rights?

Such dilemmas are likely to intensify in particularly the West in the days ahead. Major democracies would be compelled by deteriorating economic conditions, now that a global recession is taking hold, to tread a very tight rope between the advancement of economic self-interest and giving proof of their continuing commitment to promoting the cause of democracy and human rights. In a vital sense, the world’s major democracies are at a cross-roads. Needless to say, this situation is a setback for democracy.

However, the defenders of democracy have no choice but to stick to their cause in view of the fact that the interests of people everywhere are best served by the democratic system of government. They need to forge ahead with the utmost judiciousness and patience and a good example on this score is provided by no less a person than Chancellor Scholz himself. Answering a question on his China visit the Chancellor said: ‘Global problems can only be solved through cooperation with China. Meeting face-to-face facilitated discussion, even of issues over which both countries strongly disagree.’

Thus, patient diplomacy could pay some dividends on the questions of advancing democratic development and promoting human rights. Flexibility and patience emerge as vital resources for human rights defenders.