Merkel visit focuses on economy, not human rights

To consolidate this foothold, Germany has begun to explore the western region of China. Interestingly, Merkel chose Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, as her first stop on her three-day visit to China, because Sichuan, as the German media said, "has great economic potential".

"The federal (German) government does not only follow the development of East China, such as Shanghai and Guangdong province, but also is interested in Southwest China, for example Sichuan ... because there is considerable economic interests for German enterprises (there)," said German newspaper Frankfurt Allgemeine.

Sichuan is a province with huge economic potential, Sebastian Heilmann, a China expert associated with Merics, a think tank, was quoted by German TV program Tagesschau as having said. "Gradually, German companies' interests in this region has increased, which is shown by the 22-member business delegation accompanying the chancellor," Heilmann said.

Sichuan is one of the Chinese provinces that are undergoing urbanization. Using the example of Sichuan, German newspaper Bild said: "Migration (from rural to urban areas) is a problem for the whole of China. Every year, 13 million Chinese people migrate to cities. Chinese cities ... (thus they offer) a good opportunity for German companies to participate in the construction of roads, buildings, railways and supply networks (electricity, water and gas)."

The German media highlighted China-Germany economic ties this time, paying relatively little attention to "thorny issues" such as human rights. But during Merkel's earlier visits to China, the German media had urged her to raise human rights issues with the Chinese leaders. In fact, human rights used to be one of the hottest topics, if not the hottest topic, of discussion for the German media. But this time, the German media have not done so. Why?

Perhaps the answer was provided by Omid Nouripour, a diplomacy expert from the German opposition party Die Grünen (or the German Green Party). He was quoted by German TV program Tagesschau as having said that only talking about economic issues is not enough, but then it is not always helpful to talk about human rights issues publicly.

The author is a journalist with China Daily.

E-mail: zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn.