this is the news live from berlin more violence in the in march security forces there kill several more protesters as demonstrations against the military coup continue. also coming up china deals a fresh blow to what is left of democracy in hong kong the communist party says it wants quote patriots to run the city in the future. plus when will the nightmare and one year after the world health organization declare the coronavirus to be a 10 and a threat to the entire world are we any closer to returning term or out to normality

or is the worst still to come. i'm sunni so much kind of thank you for joining us at least 6 people have been killed and me and maher after security forces fired on them during demonstrations they were taking part in protests in the town of neon against last month's military coup which overthrew the elected government in the city of yangon and there are also reports that at least one other person has been killed this latest violence comes after the u.n. security council demanded the military restore democratic control in the box. which is absolutely essential to respect the results of the elections and to a low for a situation in reach we move back to a democratic transition so we can speak now to journalist andrew nak i'm sent he joins us from yangon hi andrew so we heard

a clear message from the un secretary general there but just hours later we've heard that more people have been shot dead by security forces in the city of my own and also in yangon where you are so what has happened. well it seems like the military kind of chooses random days where it cracks down with much more severity we don't see any difference in the protests we only see a difference in how the military reacts and i think part of the purpose is to kind of instill fear into protesters so that they know any day that i go on the street i could be killed. well if we look at what the military saying the spokesman there are said that today security forces only use force if necessary and said the international community doesn't have any reason to be concerned on the other hand activists say they are being targeted in this crackdown so what is your assessment of the situation and yeah i mean i don't think the military is being honest

they've been trying to claim that they're only using very soft methods and that other countries would crackdown much harder i mean we're seeing on our peaceful protests often teenagers often young women being shot in the head on you know a weekly basis so i think that played by the military is just simply not true we saw that the u.n. security council is demanding the restoration of democratic control and man maher and the military 2 has said the intel will hold elections soon so do you think that is a sign that these protests are indeed having an impact no i don't think so the military has said since they see is power that they were going to hold elections they've been claiming the reason they seized power is because the last election was brig they haven't offered any evidence of that i think if the military you can follows through with its promise to hold elections we can expect those elections to actually be rigged and we can expect and all day to probably be

banned from participating do you see any any avenue for a peaceful resolution to this crisis. it's getting increasingly hard to see an off ramp any type of diplomatic solution the military is really dating mariel's and yet it's hard it's hard to see if there's no resolution right now. journalist andrew neck and joining us from yangon in me in mar thank you very much thank you. china's parliament has backed the communist party's plan to tighten control of hong kong by overhauling the city's electoral system the national people's congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution that grants beijing veto powers over candidates to ensure that the city is governed by quote patriots critics say the changes will effectively eliminate all remaining opposition and they're calling it a final nail in the coffin of hong kong's democracy movement. and let's go right to

hong kong our correspondent standing by for us there hi phoebe tell us about this new electoral system and what it will mean for the people of hong kong so what is changing here. beijing has taken a controversial power to push their actually phone for hong kong by bypassing hong kong slow costantini so a new macand this a new factoring organization will be set up to screen all candidacy of the major local election in hong kong into the future and proposal also gives greater power to the actual commentary which is largely stacked 3 po beijing papers so that electoral comedies was originally only responsible for paying for picking the chief executive in hong kong but in the future more beijing loyalists will be added to that committee and they will also be in charge for this side to the side of candidates and also some of the winners of hong kong locals are just asia so

although they thought he said that the size and composition of the electoral committee and home calls many parliaments will be expanded but it actually is. more difficult threshold for the opposition came to become canada's and not to mention the run for to do win the election in the future when we mention that beijing says that it wants to ensure that only quote patriots run hong kong in the future so how will that actually be judged. well that is indeed the crust of the problems of patriotism under the current context in hong kong and beijing is a fake and clear concept which is not legally defined so. the authority says he she also politicians must not endanger national security but again the definition of national security could be broadly interpreted that over the past few days we have her senior officials in hong kong and also that occurred

to the beijing legislature claiming that patriotic. police take love to china in other words also support for the ruling communist party and no opposition to the incumbent government well critics say this one of the final nails in the coffin of democracy in hong kong isn't. well many opposition fakers there are deeply concerned about the new the push forward the actual reform this could be this could spell the end of their political career in hong kong where the hong kong has never enjoy food in marcus' the house we have a direct democracy over the past 2 decades but now it means that the remaining room for the opposition within the political institution could be the end under the new electoral reform and also interestingly some of the political analysts in hong kong they think that the new actual systems could also be

a challenge to the probation came that they were in the future they will have to compete with each other in terms of the loyalty to beijing our correspondent t.v. congo morning there thank you so much. japan is marking the 10th anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that destroyed towns and triggered the fukushima nuclear disaster. a minute's silence was observed across the country at 2 46 pm local time the exact moment a magnitude 9 quake struck and set off the deadly waves and bernardo hito and prime minister yoshihiko suga led an official ceremony in tokyo to pay tribute to some 800000 people who lost their lives nearly half a 1000000 people were displaced and towns around the fukushima daiichi power plant remain uninhabitable. the effects of the disaster are still being felt especially

at the site of the fukushima nuclear plant specialists there are still working around the clock to keep the damage in check in a moment we'll have more on the impact in the aftermath of the catastrophe but 1st a look at how events unfolded 10 years ago today. march 11th 2011. japan's east coast is rocked by the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the country shortly afterwards a tsunami ripped through fukushima prefecture taking everything with it. this anomaly also cripples the fukushima nuclear power plant leading to explosions and meltdowns at 3 reactors. thousands of people lost their lives as a result of the disaster tens of thousands were forced to evacuate their homes. the fukushima meltdown would count as the most severe nuclear accident since the chernobyl disaster in 1906. to this day there is still

only restricted access to 1600 square kilometers of land around the disabled tunable nuclear power plant at around 230 square kilometers from the contamination zone is much smaller but it will remain uninhabitable for decades to come. the fukushima nuclear disaster continues to contaminate the air the earth and the groundwater to this day bags are radioactive contaminated soil life scattered throughout the province it's still unclear where the waste should be stored in the long term the city of tokyo was saved by a stroke of luck wind pushed the radioactive cloud away from the city and out to sea shortly after the catastrophe radiation levels in a large number of marine animals measured much higher than the limit values considered safe in japan today those levels are down significantly but the fishing industry in japan is only recovering slowly in order to keep your goals in the reactors from melting tons of water a used each day to cool them at

a 1000000 tons of contaminated water from the cooling pipes is stored in hundreds of tanks not a power plant but because storage space is limited and the tanks will soon which capacity the japanese government is considering discharging the contaminated water into the sea in 2022. residents fishermen and environmentalist say that plan offers no solution to an ongoing disaster we can speak now to journalists on your blast in tokyo hi sonia can you walk us through the commemorations today. yes sure since the early morning hours many people in the most severely affected prefectures. want to have been going to the coast they've been putting down flowers their hands together. they've been mourning and i guess a lot for a lot of them very painful memories have been coming up throughout the whole day.

and while it's been 10 years since the disaster 10 years might seem like a long time but when we think about it only 2 or 3 years ago some people were finally able to move out of the container a lot of the container housing that was provided and sometimes into social housing or into their own houses so it's been relatively recent and while in most areas except. the buildings and the infrastructure are back in place now what is now actually only starting is through the rebuilding of the community. so yet 10 years later how would you say that this disaster has changed upin it's changed it in small ways i would say nothing to control matic in a sense. like if you compare it to germany for example phasing out nuclear power that has not happened and it's not likely to be happening anytime soon nuclear

power is still part of the government's energy plan and some local communities depend on it so they really want to keep it even though the majority of the japanese would very much like to phase it out but. this is not likely to happen anytime soon. so how do people in japan generally feel about look nuclear power going forward for the future of the country. well some people have been wondering you know can we do without nuclear power when we have blackouts or will our industry be strong enough and have a reliable energy source if we don't have nuclear part but the past couple of years have actually shown that it's can be done and japan has managed to get by on 0 nuclear power in the past so i think it could do the same thing going forward is just a question whether the nuclear village so to speak will allow this to happen but japan can do it journalist speaking to us from tokyo thank you very much.

let's get a round of now some other headlines from around the world u.n. secretary general antonio has called syria a living nightmare after 10 years of conflict said syrians had endured shocking atrocities and their suffering is now being compounded by economic collapse and soaring poverty fueled by corruption sanctions and the cobra 1000 pandemic as i've said before u.s. secretary of state employee blinken has described violence in ethiopia region as ethnic cleansing and called for the withdrawal of eritrean troops washington's most senior diplomat called for a reconciliation process to restore peace more than 50000 people have been killed since war broke out in november. a high court in pakistan has ordered the government to ban the social media app to talk it is a country 2nd bid to outlaw the platform over claims that it is spreading indecent

content a previous band was revoked last october following assurances from the chinese own app that content would be moderated. today marks one year since the world health organization officially declared covert $1000.00 to be a pandemic the 1st coronavirus cases appeared in the chinese city of when han officials there claimed a seafood market was the source of the outbreak the virus quickly spread across the world with europe becoming the new epicenter lockdowns the border closures did not stop it from moving and before long almost every part of the world became affected by the pandemic germany was initially praised for the way that it handled the pandemic case numbers and death rates were kept low and testing was rolled out but the country's approaches started to falter restrictions are being lifted despite signs the country is already in a 3rd wave and bureaucracy is slowing down efforts to save lives through vaccination. what seemed far away suddenly became a painful reality here at the stock company in late january 1 of them play us was

the 1st german to contract covert 19 from a colleague who had traveled from china the german health minister from maine up to mystic there's no cause for concern or. a few weeks later things looked quite different infections were spreading throughout germany in mid march the chancellor took the unusual step of addressing the nation on t.v. . it's it is serious please take it seriously to say that there has not been any such challenge to our country since german unity not since what with chu that has demanded such great joined solidarity based action which has 100 and called germany's 1st lockdown started the streets of berlin were virtually deserted museums and theatres had to close and the economy came to an almost complete standstill. schools and nurseries also closed the living room became the new

classroom but online teaching was difficult as laptops and software was scott's meanwhile supplies of protective clothing in hospitals providing no doctors for to keep people infected alive early may nearly 7000 of them have died the high number was relatively low in comparison with other countries infection numbers started to for the lock down worked that reduce the burden on hospitals. finally summer time restrictions were eased people return to the streets but the easing of measures brought new infections. by november the numbers was so high that people were told to stay at home again what became known as lock down life began. the months parts of the population have been protesting against the restrictions oh. yeah. but lockdown light wasn't enough

shortly before christmas in fact numbers reached such a high and that public life was entirely shut down again with alcohol bans in public and even nightly curfews in some places at the end of the year germany's vaccination campaign had kicked off politicians promise that those who wanted the job would be vaccinated by the end of summer but many vaccination centers remain empty due to a shortage of doses but the fast rays of sunshine many are no longing for more freedom one after the outbreak restrictions are being lifted bit by bit but in the meantime you taishan send infection numbers are rising again. let's bring in our chief political editor michelle. so where does germany stand right now. well according to law who is the chief medic of the whole world call institute the chief advisor to the government there who's been seen alongside the health minister

on the german chancellor throughout the crisis we are heading here in germany right into a 3rd wave he says we're in the midst of it and this is only a couple of days after the germans saw those long almost 3 months of a lockdown partially lifted some shops allowed to open some schools across the country and the government left that line of always responding with a lockdown to increasing numbers the incidence rate is rising sharply just over the past 24 hours and the big question mark now is after those partial lifting the germany might have to go in to get tighter docked and once again that decision though won't be made before the 22nd of march when angela merkel meets her state premiers again at the same time michelle if we look at vaccinations that there were plans to have family doctors or primary care physicians are start providing vaccinations in their practices that is now being pushed back i mean why has this

rollout been still so slow. well the short answer is because there's simply not enough vaccine to go around this has to do with the fact that the e.u. and germany along with it was late 3 weeks later than britain for instance in licensing that 1st vaccine from biotech and that the e.u. is exporting almost half of what it produces in terms of vaccine towards the rest of the world whereas the united states for instance won't let anything out until every american has been vaccinated we also have the german chancellor criticized this at the same time germany is quite clearly very busy with its own federal structures when a speeding up of the process is needed and there's still those question marks over the astra zeneca vaccine with a lot of germans still reluctant to actually have that particular shot so still germany lagging behind here we've also heard the chancellor say there are still a few tough months ahead for the country and critics are saying her government is

now essentially failed to handle the pandemic effectively is that a fair assessment. well the doom government has certainly failed in having a very fast vaccine rollout it's easy to compare with britain where almost a 3rd of people have had their 1st shot whereas in germany it's about about 6 percent but if you look at overall deaths if you still compare those 2 countries germany's seen some 73000 deaths britain today to see 125000 so the big question is how will your society how will voters actually measure the see in the end come election time but for now there is increasing a lack of patience with the government actually to get going particularly on the issue of vaccines and testing our chief political editor michelle thank you. in the u.s. congress has approved a sweeping pandemic relief package the 1st major legislative triumph of the biden

administration the covert $1000.00 bill is expected to be signed into law on friday the measures include direct relief payments of $1400.00 for most americans funds will also be pumped into vaccination programs and billions of dollars allocated to schools local authorities and businesses the measure was passed without any republican votes across. brazil is suffering what one doctor is called its worst moment yet in the pandemic many hospitals across the country including in the richest state of south paulo have no beds left to treat koeppen 1000 patients the number of daily deaths pushed past 2000 for the 1st time on wednesday bringing the number of people killed by the virus to more than 270000 the surgeon infections and deaths is being fueled by a more contagious variant that emerged in the amazonian city of announced in january the situation there remains dire but as deep as reports many have become complacent. you see len addresses but he's back to live in

a normal life and meet john why reach an early date when the health system in the now is collapsed she had been infected with the newest strain of the coronavirus and needed oxygen but this city had run out of feet by the sea we'll see how. it's aim to apocalyptic us was my head the more religious people said it was a sign of the end of the world around me probably it was a night in that you know i never thought i would experience such a dramatic moment the moment the film that i'm much less seen it's a moment to see descends to hop forgotten this is the main market in manassas even thought stores and businesses are only allowed it to operate at 50 percent of their normal capacity and despite scientists warnings about emergence of more and more dangerous variants the market is always overcrowded. about 13 new strains of the koran a virus had been that active in minot was one off then the one who's responsible

for 60 percent of current infections in the region suggesting that it is more transmissible and that number is on the rise race and fears of a 3rd wave it could lead it today merging stuff even more dangerous bargains according to divide ologist who discovered that being one is trying. to squash people to behave your scares me because they are seen the situation the worse and yet they continue to live as if things are normal so that could mean that we will soon have a much more serious situation. according to the studies by the fia has research foundation the government of vaccines are still effective against the p one strain is but summations center can add mr thousands of those lisper days but even here the oath already is are on the table implement. physical distance in. a posture the

moment when vaccination starts there are always a lot of people but then the crowd in goes down when older people come for bikes initiatives they bring one or 2 relatives and that's what causes the crowd. with more than 7 percent of it's the hobby downspouts united states of commerce on us where my mouse is located because i've ministered there mostly doses today to brazil however it is still a far from containing the virus so without social distancing people will continue to die from the virus. the city has made space for 22000 new graves in the cemetery it's on the horrific forecast of what the new variants could bring to my mouse in the our future. let's take a look at some other developments in the pandemic now denmark has temporarily suspended the vaccine produced by astra zeneca after several cases of blood clotting among vaccinated people the european medicines agency meets today to

discuss whether to authorize johnson and johnson's one dose vaccine a green light would give the e.u. a 4th licensed vaccine and richer members of the world trade organization have blocked a push by over 80 developing countries to waive patent rights in an effort to boost production of vaccines for poor nations. and before we go we have some images of the world's largest religious gathering taking place in india and do pilgrims from across the country have taken to defend the holy river ganges to mark the most auspicious day of the festival at dawn hundreds of thousands gathered by the riverbank and how to walk to take the plunge in one of the several bathing days of the next month authorities are expecting 2500000 people to gather for the festival because of the pandemic the government has curtailed the festivities and negative test certificates are in theory compulsory.

coming up next on d.w. conflict zone grills a german conservative politician andreas nic thank you for watching.

into the conflict zone with jim sebastian germany's human rights policy in the spotlight those are also fashions or national business is a little strange to gas deal with most folks and those who say shoes for the soft on the phone my guess is we can phone as the christian democrats and andrea sneak this is good news policy of job rights in favor of business conflict zone.

next on details of. the fight against a coronavirus pandemic. how has the rate of infection been developing. what measures are being taken. what does the latest research say. information and context. the coronavirus of data that goes a special monday to friday on w. . and you you may know yes yes we can hear you and how it all steers german chancellor i will bring you i'm going to map all as you've never had to have before surprise yourself with what disposable who is medical really what

moves out and part of somebody who talks to people who followed her along the way admirers and critics alike how is the world's most powerful woman shaping 150 during those chemicals last stop. is there it's a. and to admit that your government is always willing to sacrifice those human rights for the sake of business if the united states by screwed or $30000000000.00 a year in russia i cannot explain to my electorate why germany should be treated differently from germany's human rights policy is under the spotlight these days after fresh international criticism of its north korean to gas deal with moscow and accusations that it's soft on china my guest this week from boehner is the christian democrat m.p. andrei asked me is it his government's policy to junk human rights in favor of pity .

and draft me welcome to comfort zone fellow to long term a lot of people doug like your north stream to deal in part because it puts a lot of money into the kremlin's hands at a time when russia shows sharply declining respect for human rights isn't it time to admit that your government is always willing to sacrifice those human rights for the sake of business. i don't think this is a fair description i think north of 2 is a long term project that has been critically viewed by some in germany for many years i think there's always been differences of opinion between foreign policy and economic policy people also in my own party. but when i think we have to see where we stand with this project it is briefly before completion i think if it were to be

stopped unilaterally at this stage this would probably trigger billions of dollars in damages to be paid. to some of the project companies including a gas brum i'm not sure that is the adequate strategy to deal with it at the moment but indeed you say you say that until her say that but but you seem to cling to the view of the government seems to cling to the view against all the evidence that trade can bring about positive change your kind of the minister said that peter out now said that last summer i've always been convinced that change can be achieved through trade but in the case of russia it's been changed for the worse hasn't it while you've been building up your trade relations over many years russia has crashed through sovereign international borders into scenes crimea it's murdered its opponents on the streets of europe in one instance with nerve agents lowered cyber attacks on key institutions and jailed the leading opposition figure alexei novo nick and your trading relationships have done absolutely nothing to discourage

those actions of their. i think you have to you have to scribe quite adequately a very negative development of the situation in the russian federation that is something that we have to deal with that we have to deal with in the appropriate multi lateral formats we have taken the case of one of ours not really seen to the open sea dollars you know let me give you an example i'm leading the german delegation to the council of europe's parliamentary assembly where this is where russia is still at the table we have a ongoing investigation on the number on the case in all its aspects we will have a monitoring mission sent out to to russia as soon as that is feasible and we are now we're really dealing with issues that are at the core of the council of europe's mission like in particular compliance with verdicts and rulings of the european court of human rights and that is a scene where russia will have to stand up and will be challenged and we will have to see when if there is no improvement and no. adjustment of its behavior that we

would have a very critical debate of about russia's future role in this international format for example we have taken on about how do you think i will you yeah but by d. linking business and human rights you've given up via chile the only leaving you have to bring out serious change if you were serious about change you take up the suggestion of the social democrats who propose making a start up of knots trying to conditional on a change of behavior by the russians like releasing them down the or easing tension in eastern ukraine something like that but you won't do that off the will you. now i'm what i'm saying and i'm quite in agreement with some of my social democratic colleagues on that that we if we have an open discussion with our western allies about the future of energy relationships with russia in extra get then we may come to a 2 conclusions that will have. also the option to have some sanctions on actual deliveries of oil and gas but that is this is not something that should be there was

a trying to by letter i say german russian relationship then we also have to talk about $30000000000.00 of all crude oil purchases of the united states in russia which puts more money into russia's pockets as. dorsenne could ever do then we should have a very a lot of things about going to survive because the u.s. isn't making a stand you down that on principle here what my question no one i also want what what conclusion do you think russia and the other trading partners of yours have drawn from this statement that you dealing business from human rights they don't the conversion the bubble in one half and puff a bit on the margins for public consumption but under this government it's never going to let human rights stand in the way of a business deal is it made that clear i don't i don't agree with that and i object to the truth the attempt by some to single arise germany in this issue i think if the whole of central is the new buys and if you from russia if the united states by

screwed or for $30000000000.00 a year in russia. cannot explain to my electorate why germany should be treated differently from anybody else if we come to a joint position in the in the western alliance that relations with russia are deteriorating to extent that we should put energy relations on hold or then i think we have a basis to talk but not by trying to unilateral eyes the germany in its relationship with russia for other purposes like trying to sell. shale gas oil from. shale gas from texas and i think we should have a very honest debate and then it should be applying to everyone and not everyone in the e.u. everyone in the western alliance but not as trying to single arise germany in this in this context well let's let's talk about that debate mr nick you're always concerned to be seen as good europeans acting in support of common interest you're the driving force in that so in january when the european parliament overwhelmingly

passed a resolution calling on the e.u. to hold the completion of north stream 2 with 508 votes as it happens you simply ignored it pretty casual attitude wasn't it the fact that the project causes significant friction with your european partners specially france the baltic states poland doesn't seem to be of any importance to you either does it. again let me let me reiterate we are not at the beginning of a project if and i can prove to you that when when the project was set up beginning there was a lot of criticism including myself from the foreign policy responsible in my own party and cross the board we now have to look at a situation where the project which is all legal permits in place is short of completion and i would strongly recommend that we shift the focus of the debate on the actual deliveries rather than of specific piece of infrastructure and if there is a. justified objection against energy supplies from russia it

should apply unilaterally and it should not only apply to one specific mode of transport and i think on that basis i think we should move towards a common position i very much in agreement with secretary blinken who more than 30 years ago. in a very shrewd analysis concluded that applying sanctions to a close ally is a very bad idea and is bad for alliance and cooperation when he might that chance that he might change his views by now mr negs certainly the white house and president biden have labeled north into a bad deal for for europe and a bad deal for the world. i want to ask you this 18 companies have now pulled out even at this late stage of the not seen to project they've pulled out 18 companies announced at the end of last month worried about sanctions that they might target them directly and by the fact that both democrats and republicans have voted to

expand sanctions later this year crucially most of the companies that have gone are insurers so if you can't get the work now and the written the project in serious trouble isn't it. again i think i know there is a lot of resistance in congress probably one of the few. subjects on which democrats and republicans may be able to quit in congress i understand that the u.s. administration and the secretary of state is having a difficult dialogue with his own congress in that regard but i can only recommend that we try to get to common ground rather than seeing an ally unilateral measures i think this is poisonous for the relationship and i know that smart people in the government including secretary clinton are fully aware of that poisonous effect and aware that this is not the right strategy we are i think prepared to work towards common ground with our allies in europe and in the united states but we should do this in a way that is not trying to single out one particular country for other selfish

reasons well you can't at this stage tell me when the project is going to be completed can you isn't isn't it time that germany listened to some of the criticism at home and abroad instead of just ploughing on regardless i see that you've also lost bill finger the german civil engineering concern what if other companies jumped ship now and you seriously telling me there are no discussions within your coalition about putting completion on hold no cold feet in those upper echelons of power are invalid. i think again we are following the rule of law and this is a project that has all legal permits in place trying to terminate the nominate that by unilateral action by the german government at this stage would probably trigger billions of dollars in damages and remedies i think they're smarter ways also going forward that will create more leverage also in the relationship with russia as you mentioned i think the idea is to have them kind of a backstop mechanism and if we target actual supplies rather than the completion of

a particular piece of infrastructure this is something that could lead us towards common ground also with our partners and allies in europe and in the united states you talked earlier about reservations within your own party about this norbert redken the foreign policy adviser has called the project an instrument of political war he presumably meant it as a matter of political war for the kremlin the kremlin has used it as a lever political lever in the past its gas supplies to europe what makes you so sure they're not going to use that lever again i think we have a history of more than 50 years of reliable energy supplies from russia even during the time of the cold war but it was something for which i'm 2015 they interrupted the the gas supplies to europe. i was talking about germany i think there were specific issues with regards to certain countries in central eastern europe we have done a lot to reverse gas flows in the european system the bulk of the gas supplies to

you ukraine now comes from west to east rather from east to west i think into creating. our partners in central eastern europe into a pen european gas infrastructure is a very important element of making them more robust more resilient against potential interference from russia we should work together to reduce their dependence on energy supplies from russia and even in that regard north stream 2 can can have. can be helpful. we we are aware that there are concerns that clearly countries in center is it would rather reap transit fees. on these supplies but if we can ensure that they will be supplied from western europe it should also benefit their own energy security going forward mr nick also controversial in your party as well as internationally is your policy towards china regarded by many as 2 through this here the idea of change through trade vandal dog

hung low as you call it in germany has been a spectacular failure on the human rights front doesnt it. well it is not only a german experience i think it is a universal experience that we have to take leave from 2 assumptions are seeing explicitly or implicitly that china policy has been based on the one assumption that if g.d.p. raises above a certain level that in a country that liberalization and democracy will come almost automatically but we are also facing. inside that unless what we have traditionally believed that a state led economy can apparently be pretty successful in pretty competitive even over the longer term and i think that is something that we have to draw conclusions from. where when ignoring the issue of human rights i mean germany along with the rest of the e.u. was content to sign a major investment deal with china even though it refused to make any concrete

promises about comply with human rights standards including the ban on forced labor and you ended up being satisfied with a totally meaningless pledge that china would make what it called continued and sustained efforts to ratify the relevant convention it shows what really matters to europe these days and to your government doesn't it money money over morality money over human rights. i would i would totally disagree i think but let me let me challenge the contrary position i think if i'm convinced that decoupling is a very. misled concept economic decoupling will not work for anyone in the world not even for the united states i think the idea of simply to cut the world into 2 or 3 different pieces or do not interact with each other in any way is a false is a false strategy and i think what we see also was a recent speak speech by secretary blinking that european and american perspectives

on how to deal with china converge i think from a european definition of china being a partner a competitor as a satanic rival at the same time i hear from secretary blinken a relationship with china will be competitive but it should be collaborative what it can be and adversely and what it must be i think this is a lot of common ground and i think we need to adjust there again we're getting away from the subject of human rights and i understand you want to steer it away but the fact is you are becoming known for some pretty questionable ethics in china last year the boss of fox wagner her but this was asked about the wisdom of opening a factory in shin jang where up to a 1000000 we go muslims are incarcerated for indefinite periods affectively in labor camps and he said he didn't know anything about it is ignorance the best defense that your industry has these days absolutely not i think. and you will not hold me accountable for any potentially misled.