As of: March 25, 2024, 2:34 p.m
By: Franziska Schwarz
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Bavaria's Prime Minister visits Sichuan.
It's primarily about business - and to a certain extent also about images suitable for social media.
Chengdu – Markus Söder smooches a panda.
“Very, very cute animals,” he croons.
“Simply sweet and cuddly.” Rather unusual tones from the CSU boss.
But he is currently in China and the panda is only made of plush.
Söder received it this Monday (March 25th) at the panda breeding station in Chengdu.
Söder has been touring abroad like never before since autumn.
During a visit to Serbia on Friday (March 15), he announced “a small representative office, a small Bavarian embassy” for Belgrade.
There he wanted to strengthen his ties with Munich;
also, but not only, economically.
In Sweden, Söder said, “Bavaria is the Space Valley of Germany.”
Söder also represents Bavarian economic interests in China.
In Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, he wants to officially seal the alliance with what is now Bavaria's third partner region in China.
The background: China is Bavaria's largest and most important trading partner in the world.
CSU boss Söder kisses a panda plush bear given to him in Chengdu.
© Peter Kneffel/dpa
Bavarian “secondary foreign policy” in China and Co.: Historian criticizes CSU
However, the relations are like a balancing act, wrote the
Munich Merkur
about Söder's trip to China.
Before his departure, the opposition in Bavaria accused him of using the wrong strategy: “I expect Mr. Söder to bring up the massive human rights violations in China in the appropriate context and not politely ignore the dictator,” says SPD parliamentary group leader Florian von Brunn .
A historian also sees a long CSU tradition of this economic “secondary foreign policy” in Bavaria, and a low priority for human rights.
“Human rights have also become more important at the CSU – there is definitely a change,” said Frank Bösch to the Münchner
Abendzeitung
.
“But it is still the case that the CSU does not give human rights such high priority and also cooperates closely with socialist dictatorships like China, as Söder’s visit there just underlined.”
Franz Josef Strauss in particular was more pragmatic than moral in his Bavarian “secondary foreign policy”.
He kept in close contact “from socialist dictatorships like China to right-wing military dictatorships like in Chile,” said Bösch.
“For Strauss, there were fewer concerns about human rights violations.”
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Markus Söder posts in China: “Real politics instead of moral politics”
Söder's panda content was also
worth a few paragraphs to the
dpa news agency.
Your correspondent judged: With the “cuddly photos and videos,” the Bavarian Prime Minister’s trip of several days to China had already fulfilled “its first essential” purpose.
“Evil tongues claim that a beautiful look is always more important to Söder than the content,” he said.
The political highlight of Söder's trip to China is the conversation planned for Wednesday (March 27) with China's number two, Prime Minister Li Qiang.
In a post
on
Platform
We do realpolitik instead of moral politics.
Since Franz Josef Strauss, we have been considered a reliable partner.”
(frs with dpa)