Cooperation and clear statements: Germany's trade strategy is intended to put pressure on China

According to a media report, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has drawn up a new strategy paper on trade with China.

Cooperation and clear statements: Germany's trade strategy is intended to put pressure on China

According to a media report, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has drawn up a new strategy paper on trade with China. In it, Germany wants to make economic relations more dependent on the observance of human rights. It even reserves the right to stop imports.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wants to make economic cooperation with China more dependent than before on the human rights situation there. According to a “Spiegel” report, this emerges from the almost 60-page draft for a new China strategy by the federal government. The Federal Foreign Office sent these to the other ministries for approval a few days ago. The classified paper should be available to the magazine.

The strategy paper contains clear criticism of the communist government in Beijing. The "massive human rights violations" in the Uyghur province of Xinjiang and in Tibet are condemned. "The situation in Hong Kong" and China's behavior towards Taiwan are also discussed.

Baerbock's ministry wants to stipulate in the federal government's new strategy that compliance with human rights in China should be decisive for the future development of German economic relations. According to the draft, investment guarantees are to be capped at three billion euros "per company per country". In addition, the guarantees given are to be subjected to an "in-depth examination". This should include environmental criteria and social standards "such as avoiding forced labor in supply chains".

In addition to the restrictions mentioned, the federal government also reserves the right to sanction mechanisms against China: "Within the EU framework, we are also prepared to support import bans from regions with particularly massive human rights violations if supply chains cannot be ensured by other means free of human rights violations," it said named in the draft. When ratifying the already negotiated investment agreement between the EU and China, consideration should be given to "what impact the agreement will have on the human rights situation, especially with regard to forced labour, but also on mutual dependencies".

According to the "Spiegel", the federal government also takes a clear position regarding China's threatening gestures towards Taiwan. "A change in the status quo in the Taiwan Straits can only be done peacefully and by mutual consent." Berlin will use bilateral dialogues to "move China to comply with its international obligations under the Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 arbitral award on territorial issues in the South China Sea."

In the paper, the Federal Foreign Office also warns against global Chinese investments in ports - a topic that recently caused a dispute with the Chancellery. Chancellor Olaf Scholz had ignored the concerns of six ministries that had spoken out against the participation of the Chinese state-owned company Cosco in a container terminal in the port of Hamburg. "Investments in ports open up long-term military usage options for China," the paper says. A repositioning of the Federal Republic towards China was part of the coalition agreement.