Xinjiang Police Files: Politicians call for more toughness on China

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Economics Minister Robert Habeck: "Internationally a clear answer and further clarification"

Photo: Jan Woitas / dpa

They are images from the heart of an inhuman system of oppression: a man with a black hood over his head crouches in front of police officers with batons, his hands and feet are tied.

Another photo shows an inmate's back, purple welts covering his skin.

A leak of Chinese government data provides the first concrete insight into how China systematically oppresses and abuses the Muslim Uyghur minority.

SPIEGEL evaluated the images and files together with international media partners.

They show the consequences of surveillance and torture.

They tell how people are locked away for decades because of trifles.

They document how the Chinese government systematically violates human rights in Xinjiang Province.

As a result, German politics is once again confronted with a self-created dilemma.

Economic relations with China are close, and at the same time the "Xinjiang Police Files" show how the Chinese state is harassing an entire ethnic group.

So is a turning point not only needed in relation to Russia, but also in relation to China?

And what should the relationship look like to a state that oppresses hundreds of thousands of people with the help of a comprehensive surveillance apparatus and tortures them in internment camps?

reduce dependencies?

The opposition is calling for more distance from China.

»The Xinjiang Police Files document a new dimension of brutality against the Uyghurs.

They clearly show what kind of inhuman regime we are dealing with in China," said CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen to SPIEGEL.

"The German federal government should take the Xinjiang Police Files as a warning and start reducing its own dependencies on China."

But it is difficult to create more distance from China, not least because of the foreign policy that has been pursued under the CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel in recent years.

For a long time, China policy in Germany meant primarily trade policy, and hardly any other Western country has benefited so much from the rise of China.

In 2018, the coalition agreement between the Union and the SPD also said: "China's economic development is a great opportunity, especially for the German economy." A fundamental rethinking of China policy would presumably result in cuts for numerous German companies - and that at a time when which Germany is already trying to make itself independent of Russian gas and oil despite all the hurdles.

»It has long been clear that although China is a major trading partner, there are very relevant problems, including in respect of human rights.

That was hidden for years,” Economics Minister Robert Habeck told SPIEGEL.

“But this government has changed the way it deals with China issues.

We are diversifying more and are also reducing our dependencies on China.

The protection of human rights has a higher weight.« After the shocking pictures from Xinjiang, there must now »be a clear answer and further clarification internationally«, demanded the Green politician.

Applications from German companies for federal guarantees for investments in China are already being examined in detail, "in order to rule out human rights violations and forced labor in the supply chain," explained Habeck.

»We also examine Chinese takeover bids in Germany very carefully and with the necessary critical eye.

For example, we recently prohibited the acquisition of a company in the healthcare sector.« There are levers that can also be used.

However, these levers do not replace a long-term line.

The Federal Foreign Office has been working on a “China strategy” for a long time, but no details are known.

It is therefore urgently necessary to think about "how we as the Federal Republic will deal with the increasing autocratization of China in the future," said the FDP foreign policy expert Anikó Merten to SPIEGEL.

The current images are "cruel, horrific and, above all, unacceptable.

Economic factors must not be used as a yardstick for evaluating this crime," says Merten.

Johannes Vogel, parliamentary director of the FDP parliamentary group, has been dealing more intensively with China for years.

"Unfortunately, if you've been looking closely for a long time, you can't be surprised," he commented on the latest revelations to SPIEGEL.

»The revelations vividly document the radicalization of the Chinese regime under Xi Jinping.«

The FDP deputy party leader names what has been bothering him for years: "The terrible development is crying out for a common strategy in the West in the new system competition, which is long overdue." Europe in particular must "quickly overcome its lack of strategy with a view to China". German foreign and security policy must work urgently.

SPD party leader Lars Klingbeil told SPIEGEL that the research showed "the picture of a surveillance state that primarily systematically suppresses the Muslim Uyghur population."

As long as the Chinese government does not allow an independent investigation, "the suspicion that massive crimes against humanity are being committed here in an organized and fully aware manner is strengthened."

"China is increasingly trying to evade any observation and criticism of its own human rights violations," said Klingbeil.

"As an international community of states, we must not look the other way and must defend the universality of human rights." One must also "rethink economic dependencies towards China and position ourselves more sovereignly in Europe overall".

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock discussed the issue with her Chinese counterpart on Tuesday.

In a video call that had been scheduled for a long time, the Greens politician also addressed the "shocking reports and new documentation about the most serious violations of human rights in Xinjiang," according to the Foreign Office.

The Green politician calls for a “transparent clarification of the allegations”.

In a press conference, Baerbock chose clear words.

»Anyone who sees these pictures gets chills down their spines.

These images are disturbing and frightening,” she said.

"And they underpin what has been in the air for a long time, namely that the most serious violations of human rights are being committed in Xinjiang."

In other places, too, it is hoped that China will now create transparency.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet set off on a trip through the People's Republic this week.

Bachelet also wants to visit Xinjiang province to get an idea of ​​the situation of the Uyghurs.

This visit is an opportunity for the human rights situation in China to "get the attention it needs," Gabriela Heinrich, deputy leader of the SPD parliamentary group, told SPIEGEL.

"It should be in China's interest that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has unhindered access to gather all the necessary information."

Law against forced labor products

The left-wing politician Wulf Gallert, Vice President in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, sounds similar.

The evidence of serious human rights violations against Uyghurs is "increasingly solid" and can "only be refuted if the Chinese government itself is as transparent as possible".

But how much transparency can we really expect from China?

The Chinese government maintains to this day that the detention camps are professional training institutions whose aims are to fight poverty and extremist ideas;

staying in the camps is voluntary.

It is therefore considered unlikely that China will allow UN Commissioner Bachelet to form an independent picture of the situation.

In the EU, therefore, preparations are already being made to build up pressure when in doubt.

The Xinjiang Police Papers would clearly show what is happening in the Chinese province - "that must have consequences," said Bernd Lange (SPD), chairman of the European Parliament's powerful Foreign Trade Committee.

A new law is already being prepared there that will ban the import of products that are based on forced labour.

"The new revelations will certainly give it a new dynamic," says Lange.

Do sanctions work?

He expects that pressure will also increase on European companies to disclose their supply chains and prove that they are free from forced labour.

In addition, Beijing only signed the conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in April, which prohibit the use of forced labor.

"It's absurd that China is obviously doing the exact opposite in reality," said Lange.

“We will take a tough diplomatic approach to Beijing for this.”

In March 2021, the EU imposed sanctions on the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau and representatives of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Party Committee for the suppression of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.

However, these sanctions had not achieved anything, said the left-wing faction's foreign policy spokesman, Gregor Gysi.

"Of course, the Chinese human rights violations against the Uyghurs must be stopped as soon as possible," said Gysi.

Perhaps one should try to achieve something for the Uyghurs "by redoubling diplomacy, by offering instead of sanctions."

Reinhard Bütikofer, head of the European Parliament's China delegation, argues for the opposite: The Xinjiang Police Files "clearly prove how much high-ranking officials of the Communist Party are involved in this extraordinarily brutal repressive regime," said the Green politician Bütikofer.

"In view of the weight of the publications, the EU cannot stand by its previous, cautious sanctions."