German Chancellor Angela Merkel will have to strike the right balance on her upcoming trip to China amid mass protests in Hong Kong. But this should be an easy task for her, says DW's Frank Sieren.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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China needs friends in the West at the moment. German Chancellor Angela Merkel knows this. However, China's communist government does not want others to tell it what to do. Back in Germany, however, people will be expecting Merkel to do some straight-talking. And Beijing knows this.
It might be challenging to strike the right balance if you were a newbie in politics, but not if you're Angela Merkel. Moreover, Beijing will be receiving her with plenty of goodwill, considering she's seen to be one of the last reliable politicians in the West. This is the result of her hard work after a few blunders in her early years. Now, she knows how to formulate criticism and deliver a clear message without her Chinese counterparts losing face. She's paid a dozen visits to hone her skills, and she even seems to enjoy this game.
The foreign policy spokesman of the Free Democratic Party in the Bundestag Bijan Djir-Sarai was not particularly tactful when he recently said that it would be extremely problematic to talk only about improving trade and economic relations. Everyone knows that Merkel will not do this. But she will not make any threats either. How could she? Should Germany stop selling and producing goods in China? Threats are not clever.
Frank SierenImage: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Tirl
What makes sense is for Merkel to explain why it would be in China's interest to make sure Hong Kong retains its freedom. She could also talk about the risks involved in maintaining so-called re-education centers in Xinjiang. It will also be a good tactic to discuss the pros and cons of social credit systems for foreign companies, in the hope that some of the disadvantages will be removed further down the line.
Of course, Merkel does not have huge room for maneuver considering the close economic relationship between China and Germany. But this relationship has developed over the years into one of great trust. Beijing is more likely to listen to close economic partners than to those with whom it has looser business relations, especially if they are able to strike the right tone, as Merkel is.
There's no doubt that this is more difficult when the German economy is struggling. Right now it is a little worse for wear: in the midst of Brexit and the trade dispute between the US and China, it has shrunk in the second quarter of this year. Furthermore, the risk that US President Donald Trump could slap tariffs on European cars has not been helpful.
Merkel will not only mention the points of contention between Germany and China but will seek to underline their mutual interests. In her endeavors to mitigate the global havoc that Donald Trump is currently creating, she will stress how important it is for Europe to be united. Over the past few years, China has developed strong relations with Hungary, Greece, Portugal and now Italy, which has made it difficult for Brussels to find a united stance towards Beijing. Though it was Beijing's plan to weaken the EU, it now needs a stronger Europe to stand up against Trump.
Merkel will have plenty of opportunities to set the tone. She will have breakfast with Prime Minister Li Keqiang on Friday and later meet President Xi Jinping at a reception in the Great Hall of the People. On Saturday, she will deliver a speech to students at Huazhong University in Wuhan. It will be interesting to see which issues she chooses to address openly. She should by no means call on Beijing to enter a dialogue with protesters in Hong Kong, as this would clearly be seen as interference in China's domestic affairs. However, she can easily talk about how dialogue always helps in difficult times. She knows that if she strikes the right tone, her counterparts listen.
On the other hand, nobody can hold it against China's leaders that they want to decide for themselves what makes sense for the country considering that the West has set the rules for the past 500 years.
Frank Sieren has lived in Beijing for over 20 years.
How Chinese art became political
Following the so-called Cultural Revolution, Chinese artists started exploring new forms of expression. Oftentimes they would run into considerable obstacles and challenges they had to work around or overcome altogether.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Langsdon
Ai Weiwei: "Mao" (1986)
Chairman Mao died in 1976. His death also marked the end of the Cultural Revolution. In the mid-1980s, modern artists started experimenting with the figure of Mao in their imagery - which at that time was still associated with considerable risks. Inspired by Andy Warhol's work, Ai Weiwei approached China's difficult relationship with Mao, the icon of the Cultural Revolution, in his "Mao Images."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/P. Crock
Geng Jianyi: "Two people under a light"
Geng Jianyi (born 1962) was one of the big avant-garde names in China's modern art scene. He was part of one of the 179 artists' groups that formed during the 1980s. For his thesis, he painted not this but another couple, but the painting was rejected as being too "cold," as it did not correspond to the positive image of the socialist person that the regime wanted to perpetuate. Geng died in 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Ym Yik
Wang Guangyi: "Great Criticism" (1992)
Wang Guangyi (born 1957), was part of the "Group of the North" in the late 1980s, a group that focused extensively on Western philosophy writings. With his skilful combination of propaganda art from the Cultural Revolution with Pop Art aesthetics, his works became known as "Political Pop". "Great Criticism" is his best-known and -paradoxically - most commercially successful series.
Image: Imago/B. Strenske
Yue Minjun: laughing grimaces
Yue Minjun (born 1962) is also considered as a leader in China's avant-garde movement. He has long become one of those Chinese stars featured at international auctions. One can recognize his own facial features in his signature laughing grimaces. After the events on Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989, his "Cynical Realism" approach helped shape the direction of the socio-critical artist movement.
Image: picture-alliance/ROPI
Fang Lijun: Cynical Realism
Born in 1963, painter and woodcutter Fang Lijun was featured at the groundbreaking exhibition "China Avant-Garde" in Beijing in 1989. He later developed his trademark style with his bald men against the backdrop of the sea or the sky. His imagery became the epitome of a new awakening in Chinese art. His works show people looking bored and angry at the same time - a reflection on Chinese society.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Krato
Feng Mengbo: "The Great Chairman"
"The Great Chairman" shakes hands with his doppelganger in this work by Feng Mengbo. Feng was born in Beijing in 1966, when the Cultural Revolution started. Even as a student, the video and installation artist used his imagery to deal in a subversive manner with China's revolutionary idol. Feng has continued to recycle images from the Mao era in his videos and animations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Estella Collection
Zeng Fanzhi: "The Last Supper" (2001)
Zeng Fanzhis' painting "The Last Supper" measures four meters in width and has fetched a record sum of $23.3 million at an auction for Asian art in Hong Kong in 2013. In Zeng's work, which is modeled after Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, Jesus' disciples have all been replaced with pioneers wearing red scarves. Only "Judas" is seen wear a western tie - a reference to China's turn to capitalism.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Langsdon
Cao Fei: "Live in RMB City" (2009)
Cao Fei is one of China's most recognized media artists, who is always represented in important international exhibitions on Chinese art. Her works often present a subjective mixture of fiction and documentation. This is how she addresses the fast pace of urban life in China, while also highlighting the impact of the latest technologies on people as well as their social consequences.
Image: Kunstsammlung NRW
Huang Yongping: "Leviathanation" (2011)
Huang Yongping (born 1954), is one of the earliest artists of the Chinese avant-garde. In 1986, he co-founded the group "Xiamen Dada", whose members were known for publicly burning their paintings after exhibitions. In 1989, he was one of the first Chinese artists to take part in an art show in France at the Centre Pompidou. After June 4, 1989, he stayed in Paris, where he still lives to this day.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Bradshaw
"Nut Brother" in Beijing (2015)
Wang Renzheng a.k.a. "Nut Brother" spent 100 days in Beijing in 2015 to collect the smog-related dust particles from the air using an industrial vacuum cleaner. The artist from Shenzhen later mixed the particles with clay and baked this mixtures in a factory to form bricks. Air pollution at your fingertips - that is his commentary on the relationship between man and nature.
