China policy divides Germany’s biggest party ahead of election
- A Christian Democratic Union manifesto describes China as posing ‘the greatest foreign and security policy challenge today’
- In contrast, the party’s candidate to be next chancellor questions the logic of criticising China on human rights
It also called for Germany to play a guiding role in ensuring that “human rights are universal, indivisible and inalienable”, and to “oppose attempts by authoritarian states to weaken this consensus”.
In contrast, in an interview with the Financial Times published on the same day, Laschet questioned the logic of criticising China on human rights and suggested he would maintain the status quo, as Germany’s relationship with China is guided by strong commercial ties.
“I’m not sure that always speaking out, loudly and aggressively, in public about a country’s human rights situation really leads to improvements on the ground,” Laschet said, adding that Germany should not try to contain China.
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The CDU currently leads the German Green Party by eight points in the polls, three months out from a vote that will install a new chancellor for the first time in 16 years.
But it is unlikely to win a majority, with the most likely outcome being a coalition with the Greens, which set out a tough line on dealing with China in its own manifesto published last week.
Significantly, both manifestos – as well as Laschet – have described China in language that echoes the European Union’s stance, by which Beijing is viewed as “a competitor, a cooperation partner, but also a systemic rival”.
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Roland Freudenstein, policy director for the Martens Centre, the official think tank of the European People’s Party (EPP), the EU political grouping to which the CDU belongs, said the shift in the party’s language was “remarkable”, but pointed to a “disconnect” between party and candidate.
“This tone is new – they never said much about China before, and what they’re saying now is pretty much in tune with what the EPP group has been saying [in the European Parliament]. I think there is a shift in foreign policy outlook that goes beyond the party’s choice of chancellor candidate,” Freudenstein said.
But there has been a push from within the party to take a tougher stance on China in the face of anxieties over China’s investment in critical infrastructure, Germany’s reliance on Chinese money, and swelling accusations of human rights abuses.
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Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin, said that the manifesto proves that “parts of the Christian Democrats are very sceptical of President Xi and, and his appetite for power globally”.
“The text of the party platform very much shows the imprint of Norbert Röttgen, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag and Angela Merkel’s nemesis on China policy in the CDU,” said Benner.
“There is very strong, language on confronting China, and working together with like-minded partners. That very much shows that parts of the CDU are there, but today also shows that the candidate Laschet is not exactly [there].
“I think he doesn’t necessarily believe in his party’s own programme on China, because what he said in that interview is very different.”
