The federal government is holding on to a training cooperation with the Chinese army - even though the government in Beijing has repeatedly threatened with a military operation in Hong Kong. There protests for weeks against the protests against the Prochinese government. More than 10,000 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army are stationed in Hong Kong.
According to a report of the "Bild am Sonntag", the Bundeswehr wants to train eleven Chinese soldiers in the coming year. This emerged from an internal paper of the troupe, in which planned training cooperations with a total of 62 states are listed. For the Chinese soldiers are, inter alia, provided "superiors training" and logistics training. One of them, according to the report, is to receive specialized training in press and public relations.
"Communicating our democratic values to members of other states"
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense told the SPIEGEL that soldiers from the People's Republic of China regularly participate in a small amount of Bundeswehr training. Among other things, it is about the course "General Staff International Service" at the Leadership Academy of the Bundeswehr and training for officers. An essential goal of the "superiors' education" is to "convey to the members of other states our democratic values," said the spokesman.
These include "the commitment to the Constitution, the observance of international humanitarian law, the parliamentary army and the values of the Inner Leadership". This applies "especially for states and regions whose stabilization is in the special interest of Germany".
The ministry spokesman on SPIEGEL demand did not confirm the concrete numbers mentioned in the report of "Bild am Sonntag".
Amnesty calls for an immediate end to the cooperation
The human rights organization Amnesty International called on the federal government to immediately end its military cooperation with China: "Any German training aid for Chinese military personnel is generally incomprehensible and extremely questionable given the human rights situation in China and the role of the military there," said the German Amnesty International. Board member Mathias John of the "Bild am Sonntag". And further: "In the current situation in Hong Kong, the federal government should send out a clear signal and stop all military cooperation immediately."