On November 10th, Chinese President Hu Jintao will arrive in Germany on an official state visit. In addition to discussing Germany’s economy with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, there are also talks on the itinerary with future Chancellor Angela Merkel.
However, the German-Chinese connection has significance beyond the present political and economic situation, as exactly sixteen years ago, during the night of Nov. 9 to 10, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. China experts are predicting the collapse of the “Red Wall” and the CCP leadership in the near future. Because of the growing number of departures from the CCP they are seeing parallels to the 1989 collapse of the Berlin Wall.
It has only been recently that Gerhard Schroeder, in April of this year, attempted to go against the will of all of Germany’s political parties and eliminate the arms embargo against China. Even within the ranks of his own the Social Democratic Party (SDP), he was accused of economic trade without ethics.
‘Foreign Policy Built upon Values.’
Generally Schroeder is credited for having forged the strong economic ties with the current Chinese Communist regime. On his last state visit alone, China purchased from Germany 23 Airbus airplanes, 180 diesel locomotives, and a various power stations. According to claims by the foreign ministry, German-China trade is booming, and German exports to China are showing double-digit growth. Since 1999, Germany is the largest European investor in China, though that says nothing about profit margins.
Leading up to this visit, Hu already announced billion dollar contracts with Siemens. But no one knows for sure whether these contracts are really settled.
The position of future Chancellor Angela Merkel in regards to China is still uncertain. In view of Schroeder’s political stance, though, she demanded, “We want a foreign policy built upon values.” On October 10, 2005, the day her position as new Chancellor was announced, Merkel stated she would make trade with China a high priority and would continue with the current German foreign policy.
Similarities with the Past
(1368 x 1100 px, 300 dpi)
Regarding historical developments, experts are also seeing a particular relation between Germany and China: the present situation, they say, is comparable to the fall of the Berlin Wall 16 years ago. At that time, no one had seriously considered the fall of the Wall and the re-unification of Germany.
The first hole in the Iron Curtain was cut on June 27, 1989 in the area of Odenburg (Sopron) by Alois Mock, the then Foreign Minister of Austria, along with his Hungarian colleague, Gyula Horn. During the summer and fall, several waves of refugees began crossing the border to the West. The final opening of the border between Austria and Hungary took place on September 11, 1989, and the flight of approximately 15,000 East Germans in one day led to the political collapse of East Germany. More and more people wanted to flee to the West to the point where the public transportation system could no longer keep up. Until the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, more than 220,000 people from East Germany had arrived in West Germany.
In hindsight, it took refugees comprising lass than 1.5% of population, and a whole lot of people who were hoping for a political change, to undermine the former communist regime. The current situation in China is very similar to the situation in Eastern Europe at that time: they too have this “hole in their system” even though it still oftentimes goes unnoticed. However, behind the ‘economic miracle’ and the glitzy facade of major cities such as Beijing or Shanghai, the resignations from the CCP and its associated organizations are slowly but steadily dissolving the communist regime.
The CCP is currently in a panic. This came to light when secret documents from the most inner circle of the government were made public. And even the government in Beijing knows that neither the “the movement to preserve progression“ nor any forced measures against the mass withdrawals can halt the disintegration of the CCP—particularly since no one in the inner circle has dreams of communist goals anymore. After the massacre in Tianamen Square in 1989 the people of China lost hope that the communist system might change. Today, they are withdrawing from the CCP, within themselves and also externally. Furthermore, two thirds of the population are threatened by growing poverty and are responding with protests and social unrest.
Since the first publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party on November 18, 2004, 5.3 million people have to date withdrawn from the CCP through the Epoch Times Tuidang (Quit the CCP) website. Because of the Internet blockade and limited access to the Internet in China, the actually number of withdrawals is with certainty much higher. This avalanche of 20,000 withdrawals per day can easily increase to several million, at which point the CCP will be dissolving from the inside. The exact point in time that this will happen, as with the Berlin Wall, one may only know after the fact.
Feeds