Merkel heads to China
July 5, 2014
After leaving from Berlin on Saturday, the first stop on Chancellor Merkel's official visit is Chengdu, in China's western Sichuan province.
About 160 German companies are active in the area, with Merkel due on Sunday to visit a Volkswagen factory as well as open a conference on urbanization and visit a social project for the children of migrant workers.
On the visit, which lasts until Tuesday, Merkel will be accompanied by a high ranking business delegation and is scheduled to sign a series of economic agreements. China is currently Germany's third-largest export market, behind the European Union and the United States.
Human rights discussions urged
Along with meeting representatives from business and civil society, Merkel is due to meet Chinese President and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping as well as Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
Members of minority organizations have urged Merkel to use the opportunity to bring up issues of human rights with China's leaders. The World Uighur Congress sent Merkel an open letter appealing for her to discuss the fate of the Muslim minority in Xinjiang province.
"The past two years have seen an increase in the use of violence and an even more heavy-handed approach by the Chinese in the eastern region," Rebiya Kadeer, the president of the World Uighur Congress, wrote on Saturday.
Tensions between Uighurs and ethnic Han Chinese have led to about 400 deaths between March 2013 and June 2014, according to a report by the German-based Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV). Chinese authorities accuse Uighurs of several terror attacks in recent months.
Well-known civil rights advocate Mo Shaoping also called for Merkel to bring up human rights issues, including the cause of political prisoners.
se/msh (dpa, AFP)