German intelligence services in their report from 2021 He stated: “In the political sphere, the Chinese side is trying to win over prominent (current and former) German politicians as ‘lobbyists’ for Chinese interests.”
In the aftermath, these German politicians were (mainly) Strive to strengthen cooperation with China, thereby strengthening Beijing’s influence in Germany!– confirms” Bild “, citing examples of such actions.
63 years Christian Wolf (CDU) is the former President of Germany (2010-12) and former Prime Minister of Lower Saxony (2003-10). After withdrawing from politics, he became head of the NGO Global Alliance of Small and Medium Enterprises (GASME), which deals with economic cooperation with Chinese companies – Bild wrote, citing the results of the daily WirtschaftsWoche.
“There is nothing better than engaging in an intense exchange with the Chinese,” said Wolf as a speaker at the Sino-German conference in Neuss in 2020. In 2019, Wolf went to an economic conference in Beijing at the invitation of the Chinese government. “There he called in his speech for greater cooperation between Germany and the Communist Empire,” Bild adds.
75 years Rudolf Sharping The former Minister of Defense (SPD), who held this position from 1999 to 2002, had been under the influence of China for 30 years, and had been fighting for cooperation with the country.
In 2006, Sharping began consulting with China, even concluding a contract with the government in Beijing. By his estimates, he has made more than 200 visits to China so far. He is the Managing Director of Rudolf Scharping Strategieberatung Kommunikation AG, and advises German companies on doing business in China.
“Chinese people who want to invest in Germany can also benefit from Scharping’s help,” Bild adds. Every year the consulting firm Scharping organizes German-Chinese economic conferences to which the former politician manages to invite his former colleagues, such as former Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel (Social Democratic Party).
65 years Hans Peter Friedrich (CSU), the former head of the German Interior Ministry (2011-13), is the founder of the China Bridge Association (German: China-Bruecke). The organization aims to bring together Chinese state-owned companies and companies from Germany.
His special sympathy for Beijing was revealed in interviews: in 2020 he praised China’s policy against poverty and the coronavirus on the red state portal china.org. Then in 2021 he claimed in an interview with Deutschlandfunk that China is ‘not a dictatorship’ – like ‘Bild’ .
“Many understand lobbying as just an economic act, but for the Communist Party, these are parts of a jigsaw to expand its power. This means that China is using lobbyists to establish control over Germany!” Comment on German politicians’ relations with Beijing Frank Muller Rosneret, An FDP parliamentarian and foreign affairs expert.
“You have to be vigilant about the side of freedom. Unlike lobbying organizations operating in democratic countries, in the case of China, you can always be sure that the other party is professionally run by the Communist Party” – he concludes Muller Rosneret.
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