Beijing bars German human rights critic from lawmakers’ technology trip to China
- Greens party member Margarete Bause says the planned visit will not be allowed to go ahead if she remains part of the delegation
A trip to China later this month by a German parliamentary delegation on technology appears in doubt after Beijing rejected the inclusion of a frequent critic of its human rights record.
German Greens party member Margarete Bause was set to join the trip by a Bundestag committee on digitalisation to learn about China’s AI and start-ups. Fellow Green Dieter Janecek was originally meant to go but couldn’t and suggested Bause as a replacement.
Bause told German media on Saturday that the trip to Shanghai and Beijing planned for August 23 to September 1 would not go ahead as long as she was a member of the delegation.
She said the move was an attempt by Beijing “to silence members of parliament who speak loudly and clearly for human rights”, German Press Agency (DPA) reported.
“The Chinese stated that Mrs Bause had to refrain from being a member of the delegation, otherwise the whole committee would be denied access. So, de facto, she was declared persona non grata,” a spokesman for Bause’s office said.
In a statement on Sunday, the Chinese embassy in Berlin did not refer to Bause directly but said “China has the right to refuse those who have not been invited”.