Germany’s Merkel presses China on freedom

“The issue of human rights is of vital importance from our point of view,” Merkel told an audience at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, the nation’s top government think tank, on her second full day of talks and meetings here.

Merkel earlier met with journalists, including Li Datong, who became something of an icon of free speech last year after he lost his job as editor of a hard-hitting weekly supplement in the mass-circulation China Youth Daily.

Li’s dismissal, along with the decision to halt publication of the weekly so that it could be relaunched with a more tame editorial team, came at the orders of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department.

The meeting with the four reflected Merkel’s wish to focus on the development of the Chinese media during her visit, Li told AFP afterwards.

“This demonstrates that the chancellor is herself very interested in the progress of democracy and media freedom in Chinese society,” he said.

Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, had a better feel for life in a non-democratic society, according to Li.

“She would have a first-hand understanding of what things are like under an autocratic system,” he said. “In this area, she would have more understanding than other western leaders.”

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders ranks China 163rd out of 167 countries on its global press freedom index, and says at least 30 journalists are behind bars across the country for defying the Communist Party.

Apart from Li, Merkel also met with Zhao Mu, a well-known blogger, He Yanguang, a prominent photographer, and Zhan Jiang, a journalism professor, according to a German embassy spokesman.

On her first visit to China last year after becoming chancellor, Merkel also sought to interact with civil society, meeting the Catholic Bishop of Shanghai.

“The world will be watching China to an extent not seen for many years,” Merkel said in her speech at the think tank on Tuesday.

“Of course, one of the things that will be watched is how China appears in terms of freedom of opinion and freedom of the press.”

The speech also covered other aspects of Sino German ties, as well as environmental issues.

A member of her entourage also said she had pushed for better protection of intellectual property rights, arguing that implementation lags behind regulations.

Merkel had also told her hosts she would use the United Nations General Assembly in September to push once more for renewed trade liberalisation talks under the World Trade Organisation.

On Monday, the German leader raised human rights and other controversial issues, such as climate change, counterfeit products and substandard Chinese exports, during meetings with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Merkel travelled on Tuesday from the capital to the eastern city of Nanjing, where she was due to attend cultural and academic events. She will stay in China until Wednesday, and then travel on to Japan.

A delegation of 25 heads of German companies and industry representatives are travelling with Merkel, but as of Tuesday, only a handful of commercial deals had been signed.

The China Daily newspaper on Tuesday’s celebrated the strong ties between the world’s third and fourth biggest economies, saying they went “far beyond business.”

“It is amazing that despite the differences in their political institutions, the two countries have managed to forge such a constructive partnership,” the editorial said.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email