November 4, 1999	atimes.com

China German chancellor walks a tightrope in China By Yojana Sharma BERLIN - German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is walking a foreign policy tight-rope during his trip this week to China, which is likely to have reverberations in other Asian countries as well as at home. The issue is whether an ''ethical'' foreign policy can truly be meshed with the desire by European countries to open up new markets in the developing world. The last time Schroeder was in Beijing he was cap in hand, as the West's apologist for the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Nato air war against Yugoslavia over Kosovo. But perhaps it was just as well bilateral issues were not broached at that time, concede German foreign ministry officials - ''China is not always the best testing ground for a new emphasis on an ethical foreign policy,'' said one Foreign ministry official with disarming honesty. Gerd Poppe, the Foreign ministry's official in charge of human rights has admitted that ''since the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, it has become more difficult to talk to China about human rights''. He stressed that the Chancellor's priority on this trip is economic relations with China. The new focus on human rights in foreign policy adopted by centre-left governments in Britain, Italy, France, Portugal and now Germany under its Green Party foreign minister Joschka Fischer is proving a minefield. Although China is on the West's list of ''bad guys'' regarding human rights, Chinese president Jiang Zemin last month paid official visits to Britain, France and Portugal, amid fruitless protests from human rights groups, who denounced again the double standards of ''realpolitik.'' In December 1998, Fischer launched his new humanitarian foreign policy with a meeting in Bonn with exiled Chinese dissident Wei Jinsheng. In June he met the Dalai Lama. But like Helmut Kohl before him, Schroeder has taken over the China portfolio, and is able to distance himself from the actions of his coalition partner Fischer. Not surprisingly, Fischer's officials have been bemoaning their lack of influence on Schroeder's preparations for his China trip. ''When it comes to Schroeder's China visit, we have little say'' admits a foreign ministry official. ''We prepare his briefing notes but we can't guarantee the Chancellor will use them.'' German foreign ministry officials say they are not expecting Schroeder to put human rights above everything else. ''That would be unrealistic and undiplomatic. But we would hope he will touch on the rights issue in his public statements and not just privately in his talks with Chinese leaders,'' said one official. Schroeder has gone to China declaring ''continuity'' in German foreign policy towards Beijing. Under Chancellor Kohl the emphasis was on promoting German business interests and, as a former director of the Volkswagen automobile company, Schroeder knows the importance of cultivating a business-friendly environment. As if to prove his point, sales of submarines to Taiwan were shelved to preserve good relations with China. Germany this year also refused an export license to the defense company Dornier for a $30 million contract to supply the Rocsat-2 satellite to Taiwan. Events last week in Germany in the run up to the chancellor's visit have shown what a minefield human rights in foreign policy can be. Schroeder went through a bruising battle with his Green party coalition partners over the sale of tanks to Turkey which the Greens said broke an agreement with the Social Democrats banning arms sales to countries with poor human rights records. It was a battle which damaged the cohesion of the ruling coalition more than any other, threatening to pull it apart. It ended in a concession to the Greens by Schroeder. The government agreed to deliver only one state-of-the-art Leopard II ''for test purposes'', while Ankara is looking to buy up to 1,000 pieces. Government approval for the full delivery will only go ahead around the year 2001 if Turkey is deemed to have improved its human rights record. ''The export delivery would then be linked to actual and verifiable progress in human rights, '' said Green party leader Gunda Roestel, although other Green party politicians suggested that even the sale of the ''test tank'' had been secured without consulting Fischer. Schroeder had argued the agreement to ban arms sales to countries with poor human rights only applied ''outside the Nato arena'' and Turkey is a member of the transatlantic alliance. The Greens fear that the Turks may use the tanks against the Kurds. Schroeder was keen to depart for China leaving behind a solid impression of coalition unity. But the desire to placate the Greens while fulfiling the expectations of German business do not bode well for his attempt to increase Germany's influence in China. The Greens point out that, for all Kohl's attempts to kowtow to China in order to secure export orders for German companies, it was difficult to see any evidence of increase in German business presence vis-a-vis other western countries. The Green party is watching with a hawk's eye - although the revelation just this week that Germany had approved an export license to Siemens for transformers for the mammoth Three Gorges dam project in China passed barely with a murmur. The huge dam project will mean the resettlement of over two million people, and pressure groups within Germany are insisting there should be no German participation in the project. Werner Mueller, the economics minister who approved the export license is travelling with Schroeder to China. Officials in his department maintained that the application for a license had been approved under the previous government. Green party officials believe this announcement may be to placate Beijing over the activities of the Falun Gong sects' activists in Germany, numbering about 1,000, who China fears are raising funds for sect members in China. ''We fear for the lives of people,'' said Lei Zhou of the Frankfurt-based German Falun Dafa, a branch of the Taoist organisation which has been subject to persecution in China in recent months, saying the group had written to Schroeder in advance of his visit to bring up the issue with China. But Schroeder's first public statements provided his Green party colleagues with little hope that he would try to balance trade with human rights. ''In the medium term it might be worth considering if it would not be sensible to integrate China into the structure of the Group of 8 (the world's seven most industrialized countries and Russia)'' he said in Tokyo Monday, just the day before leaving for Shanghai. Officials have confirmed that Schroeder made the statement without consulting Washington, Tokyo or London, but his message is clear - the reality is that China is considered on a par with the West. Green party officials back home are shaking their heads in astonishment, but are hoping from the sidelines that Schroeder's tactic is to provide the carrot first. (Inter Press Service)

Front | China | Southeast Asia | Japan | Koreas | India/Pakistan | Central Asia/Russia | Oceania Business Briefs | Global Economy | Asian Crisis | Media/IT | Editorials | Letters | Search/Archive Travel Reservations to Big Island Hawaii

back to the top ©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.

China Chinese Sex News | Asian Sex Gazette