GERMAN CAR INDUSTRY'S DEPENDENCE ON CHINA: REPORT

In part one of this special report, we explored some cases where Germany’s car industry failed to speak up for human rights in China. At times, it even invested in regions where severe rights abuses were being reported. In part two, the question remains: why is the industry so soft on China? Professor Zhu Yi from the Institute of China Studies at the University of Heidelberg sheds light on the topic. She attributes it partially to the so-called "dependence on China" narrative. In a comprehensive research paper titled “How Dependent is Germany on China?”, she argued that the narrative “appears to be a hopeless fact and is presented as an excuse for the behavior of the government and large corporations on human rights issues.”