German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised human rights and other sensitive issues with China's leaders on Monday, while bluntly telling them to respect the rules of international trade and development.
Merkel's talks with Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao focused on building trade ties between the world's third and fourth biggest economies, but she made it clear that controversial matters should not be ignored. "I discussed human rights in my talks with the leaders," Merkel told reporters after her first official meetings of a three-day trip to China.
"I pointed out that especially with the Olympic Games coming up (in Beijing next year), the world will be looking at China with increased scrutiny." China's communist rulers have already come under pressure in recent weeks from human rights groups and other activists around the world hoping to use the Olympic spotlight to raise public awareness about their causes.
China's support of the government in Sudan, which is accused of helping to carry out genocide in its Darfur region, is one particularly high-profile issue receiving much attention. Merkel did not say on Monday whether she had raised Darfur with Hu and Wen, but she said over the weekend that she would.
After a one-hour meeting with Wen, Merkel said she had also made it clear that "every country has the right to development," but that rules do apply. "At present there are a great many large countries such as China that are developing fast and there is a need to respect the rules of the game," she told reporters.
In this regard, Merkel said she and Wen discussed intellectual property rights and the quality of Chinese exports, areas where China has been accused of cutting corners at the expense of shoppers and competing manufacturers overseas.
Raising temperatures further, German weekly Der Spiegel reported ahead of Merkel's visit that Chinese hackers had penetrated government computer systems in Berlin.
While not directly confirming the reports, Merkel said she told Wen during their talks that solid ties depended on "mutual respect". "I saw those reports and expressed that in order to move relations forward... we must together respect a set of game rules," she said.
Wen said his government looked at the hacking reports "as a matter of grave concern", while also seeking to assure Germany and all other nations that China's rapid development posed no threat to the rest of the world. "China will always take the peaceful road. China is very happy to cooperate with all nations but will never threaten (others)," Wen said at the briefing.
"So it's clear, everyone please be at ease, there is no such thing as the 'China Threat Theory.'" With climate change on the agenda, Wen said China would do its best to tackle global warming and cut pollution, even as he downplayed hopes for success in reaching its own environmental targets.
"It will be extremely difficult to reach these targets, but we have already shown our determination," Wen said, emphasising that developing China still lacked the same capabilities to fight pollution as rich nations.
"We have a much tougher task than Germany does." A delegation of 25 heads of German companies and industry representatives are travelling with Merkel. On Monday, ThyssenKrupp Technologies AG signed a memorandum of understanding with an economic and technology zone in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing for an engine components project. Two other contracts were signed on environmental technology and energy co-operation. Merkel will stay in China until Wednesday, and then travel on to Japan.
The chancellor is both the leader of Europe's biggest economy and the president of the Group of Eight most industrialised nations, a role Japan will take over in 2008.
Comments
Comments are closed.