Memories of a balanced view of China

From: Helmut Schmidt "A Last Visit: Encounters with the World Power China"

by Reinhild Felten, Germany

(date) Helmut Schmidt (1918–2015) was German Chancellor from 1974 to 1982 and co-editor of "DIE ZEIT" since 1983. He remains one of the best-known and most popular politicians and publicists in Germany. He has published numerous books.

In his book "One last visit: encounters with the world power China",* published in 2013, Helmut Schmidt conveys an unusually balanced, benevolent view of China, considering he is a German politician.

On many trips to China and the Far East, Helmut Schmidt spoke with various politicians. For repeated talks, he also met Deng Xiaoping, who led the politics of the People's Republic of China since the late 1970s. He even had a long-standing friendship with Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore, who once led his country to independence. Thus, Helmut Schmidt gained a knowledgeable, differentiated picture of China. Some conversations between these two politicians are documented in the book. Schmidt’s impressions are summarised in the first chapter.

Respect and esteem for 4000 years of history

Helmut Schmidt considers China to be a decisive world power of the 21st century and advises the Western world to treat this country with respect and esteem for its 4000-year history and its great development – a history in which military conquests were very rare. It is probably an unfortunate late consequence of colonial history that the United Nations recognised the People's Republic of China as a legal representative of China as late as 1971, Germany, at Schmidt's instigation, only in 1972 and the USA in 1979.

A "stroke of genius": special economic zones in port cities

Overall, Helmut Schmidt shows great respect for Deng Xiaoping's path of reforms since 1978, calling him the "great motor driving China towards realism and pragmatism". In his eyes, Deng is "one of the most successful statesmen of the 20th century". Schmidt describes the establishing of special economic zones as a "stroke of genius". These were set up in port cities because from there it was easier to connect to the world economy. The ex-chancellor says: “If you consider China's internally and externally torn situation during almost the entire first half of the 20th century, if you also consider the era of Mao Zedong with its many millions of deaths from starvation, and the uncounted victims of the so-called Cultural Revolution, then the country's economic resurgence borders on a miracle”. Schmidt emphasises: “Today, China is an economic world power whose currency reserves amount to over 3 000 billion dollars – which is unprecedented in world history.”

Forming one's own picture

Schmidt is cautious in his assessment of the Tiananmen tragedy in June 1989, which resulted in a profound disruption of economic, social and political development. At that time, local student protests were put down by military means. This event was portrayed by the media and public opinion in the West as the suppression of a general freedom movement (Schmidt: "Exaggerated Western media coverage"), which caused great indignation. Western politicians cancelled visits and talks, and an arms supply embargo was imposed. Schmidt himself flew to Beijing in 1990 to see the situation for himself. He spoke with Chinese officials, Western diplomats working there, journalists, business people as well as private individuals. Deng Xiaoping explained to him in no uncertain terms how the situation had arisen and admitted that mistakes had been made.

Concerning foreign policy, Schmidt sees a number of questions facing China. Peace and stability in the region are still maintained by the balance of power between America and China. However, the dispute over several small island groups is causing unrest. In Japan as well as in China, nationalist tendencies are growing again, and Beijing feared that in the case of a Korean reunification, Washington's influence would then extend to the border with China.

Considerable tensions between rich and poor

However, the former Chancellor sees the country's real problems at home: because of the one-child policy introduced by Mao and the nonetheless continuing population growth, the productive generation is thinning out. This makes it very difficult to build up a comprehensive old-age pension system. A second problem is the great difference in living standards between the coastal regions and the interior of the country. In large parts of the country, the necessary infrastructure is lacking. As a result, people move from the villages to the up-and-coming provinces on the coast in search of work. Today (2013), there are between one hundred and two hundred million migrant workers. They are exploited and have neither legal protection nor old-age insurance. The tensions between rich and poor are considerable. However, the Chinese leadership is well aware of this problem. Schmidt sees it as a priority task of the Chinese leadership to bring those people, who can no longer find work in the countryside, into other employment. Further problems have arisen as a result of industrialisation. China is dependent on the import of raw materials, especially oil and gas. There are also huge environmental problems. Despite all these problems, Schmidt considers the domestic situation to be relatively stable. In fact, there are thousands of demonstrations every year, which are not suppressed by the government. They are, however, specifically directed against local grievances and not against the regime of the communist party.

Positive signs for the future in the wake of market economy innovations

Schmidt notes that the Chinese system of one-party rule is deeply suspect to many Americans and Europeans because it contradicts the political traditions of the West. He himself takes a more benevolent view of the situation: in the light of Chinese history, however, the political stability that this system ensures seems to me to be expedient, even beneficial – both for the Chinese people and for their neighbours". He also sees positive signs for the future: "In the course of market economy innovations, the authoritarian political structure will undoubtedly change. Clear signs of a gradually developing constitutional state are already visible. However, further development must be given time. Any attempt to intervene from outside and speed up the process could cause great harm.”

China remains cautious on foreign policy

Naturally, the former statesman is also interested in the question "What can the West expect from China in the near future?" Schmidt foresees that China can achieve faster growth than any European or North American country, and that living standards will rise. In the natural sciences and in the field of new technologies, the country will move up quickly. Nevertheless, it will remain at the level of an emerging market for some time. He expects China to remain cautious in its foreign policy and not to provoke a conflict with another world power. "At the same time," he says, "Beijing will insist that China be respected; it will insist in particular on International law and the United Nations Charter. Any provocations will be calmly repelled."

How should the West behave towards China?

Finally, Schmidt raises the question: "How should the West behave towards China? How should it respond to the challenge?" His answer seems so fundamental and earnest that it should be reproduced here in its wording: "In my view, three points are indispensable for peaceful and cooperative coexistence. First: Renunciation of Western arrogance, instead respect for the oldest cultural nation in the world. Secondly: Full inclusion of China as an equal partner in all multinational organisations in which global issues – economy, finance, climate, disarmament – are negotiated. Thirdly: No resistance to Taiwan's expected rapprochement with the People's Republic of China and the resulting peaceful reunification."

Above all, Schmidt said, Western politicians must understand that tough competition and political cooperation are by no means mutually exclusive. The West cannot prevent China's further economic and technological rise, certainly not by refusing to cooperate politically or by trying to exert political pressure. Western politicians should refrain from travelling to Beijing to lecture the leadership on human rights issues. Spreading fear of China is also not an appropriate way to respond to the challenge. "However we act, we must know one thing: China will go its own way in its re-emergence as a world power."

* Helmut Schmidt. Ein letzter Besuch: Begegnungen mit der Weltmacht China, Siedler-Verlag, Munich 2013. ISBN 978-38-2750-034-2

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Who was Helmut Schmidt? – An editorial contribution

Commitment to international understanding and peace

Helmut Schmidt was born in 1918 and died in 2015. As a young man he took part in World War II as a soldier. After the war, he joined the SPD and became actively involved. He was Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1982.1

In 2008, he expressed his motivation as follows: "Ambition is a term I would not apply to myself; of course I was interested in public recognition, but the driving force lay elsewhere. The driving force was typical of the generation to which I belonged: We came out of the war, we experienced a lot of misery and shit in the war, and we were all determined to make a contribution so that all these horrible things would never happen again in Germany. That was the real driving force."2

Non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states

In foreign policy, Schmidt attached great importance to the principle of non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states. In 2002, he took a critical stance on so-called "humanitarian interventions" such as those in the Balkans: "Unfortunately, as far as international law is concerned, we are currently experiencing only regression, not only on the part of the Americans, but also on the German side. What we did in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina clearly violated the international law in force at the time."3

Searching for solutions to pending humanitarian issues

Even after his term of office as Federal Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt actively promoted reconciliation and understanding among nations as well as peace. To this end, he established numerous foundations and international organisations or worked in existing ones in which high-ranking heads of state and religious leaders sought solutions to pending human issues by means of dialogue. In 1983, together with the former Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda, he founded the InterAction Council (IAC) – a loose association of former heads of state and government. Hans Küng had formulated a "Universal Declaration of Human Duties" within the framework of this body.

Humanistic values despite National Socialism

In his youth, Helmut Schmidt experienced the national socialist era. However, he had the good fortune to be taught at a higher vocational school by Erna Stahl (1900–1980), a committed reformist teacher who did everything she could to familiarise her pupils with the humanistic values of our culture. Her humane attitude was demonstrated, among other things, by the fact that she kept her lessons free of national socialist infiltration as far as possible. One day she was arrested by the gestapo "for planned contamination of the youth" and faced death penalty. However, she was freed by American soldiers at the end of the war. In retrospect (2008), a pupil from the last abitur class (secondary school leaving examination) (1943) before Erna Stahl's imprisonment, once again highlighted her lasting merits:

"Beyond all the ideology as required at the time, she familiarised us with the great currents of European intellectual history, with epochs, representatives, with works of art and poetry in such a way that we were able to pass on the heritage after 1945 without an inner break, without 're-education'. As students, I'm afraid we simply took this great gift of an ideology-free, musically influenced, wonderfully humanistic education for granted and only later, in retrospect, recognised it as the great privilege it was."4

It can be assumed that the attitude of this courageous teacher also contributed to Helmut Schmidt's later upright attitude towards war and peace.

Military service in World War II

As a 17-year-old student, he was expelled from the naval Hitler Youth in 1936 for being "too flippant". After graduating from high school, he reported for military service like most of his peers and took part in World War II. Among other things, he was commanded to the Leningrad Blockade. The show trials of the People's Court under the presidency of Roland Freisler disgusted him. When he spoke critically about Hermann Göring and the Nazi regime, he was to be tried by a Nazi court martial. Two generals were able to prevent this. Schmidt became a British prisoner of war in April 1945.

In June 1945, in a Belgian prison camp, he heard a lecture by Hans Bohnenkamp, a university teacher of education, entitled Verführtes Volk. After this lecture, he later wrote, he lost his last "illusions" about National Socialism.

Helmut Schmidt: one of the last great German politicians

Helmut Schmidt was one of the last great German politicians who had lived through National Socialism and the war and who knew what dictatorship and war meant. From this came his determination to bring about international understanding, because the alternative to this – war – had to be prevented at all costs.

Unfortunately, many of our present-day politicians lack this stature and this clear objective and play only too lightly with fire.

1 All information in this article about Schmidt’s career was taken from Wikipedia.

2 Unsere Soldaten hatten keine kollektive Ehre. (Our soldiers didn’t have a collective honour). In: Die Welt, 20 Dezember 2008; Interview mit Ulrich Wickert.

3 Helmut Schmidt: Türkei passt nicht in die EU. (Helmut Schmidt: Turkey does not fit into the EU). In: Hamburger Abendblatt 13 December 2002.

4 Ursula Meier (Publ..): Erna Stahl – Zeugnisse ihres Wirkens im Hamburger Schulwesen nach 1945 und Betrachtungen aus ihrer späteren Lebenszeit. Mit einem Beitrag: Erna Stahls Haltung in der Zeit des thoughts from her later life. With a contribution: Erna Stahl’s attitude during the times of National Socialism.) Publisher Dr Kovač, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8300-5473-3, P. 447 (Eva Schmidt born Rimkeit: Notes for an interview with Wolfgang Peper, Ansgarkirche Hamburg-Langenhorn. 9 November 2008).

(Translation “Swiss Standpoint“)