China fumes after Germany calls out Beijing’s “grave violations of human rights”
By Yungdung Tsomo
DHARAMSALA, 17 July: Germany has published its first and long-awaited China strategy based on its comprehensive new National Security Strategy, which was presented in June on Thursday.
“China has changed — this and China’s political decisions make it necessary to change how we address China,” the read the strategy paper.
According to a report in Politico, German has blasted China’s human rights violations and highlighted Beijing’s violations of the rights of Uyghurs in East Turkistan as well as the situation in Tibet and Hong Kong declared that “The situation of ethnic and religious communities, and the significantly worsened situation of human rights defenders.”
However, the report noted that Berlin has softened its approach to China more than the previous draft.
The release of the 64-page document coincides with a broader Western effort to decrease their reliance on China, referred to as “de-risking,” due to concerns about China’s growing influence in the Indo-pacific region and potential disruptions to global supply chains.
“Our aim is not to decouple [from Beijing]. But we want to reduce critical dependencies in future,” the chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, tweeted on Thursday after unveiling the new strategy, which he said, “reacted to a China that has changed and become more assertive”.
China has however reacted sharply over Germany’s criticism of their human rights violations in the China strategy paper and warned Berlin against “meddling in its internal affairs”
Beijing resolutely opposes “meddling in its internal affairs” by using issues including Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and human rights, said a statement issued by the Chinese embassy in Berlin on Thursday
However, China has refrained from mentioning Tibet in its statement. The omission has led some Twitter users to speculate on possible dialogue between China and Tibetan exiles, as the Dalai Lama has mentioned previous contact attempts by China.
However, the exact motivations behind China’s this approach remain unclear.
