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Human rights battle: German Bundestag calls on China to allow MPs visit

Germany's parliament said Monday it had appealed to Chinese authorities after a delegation which included a politician outspoken on Uighur issues was threatened with a travel ban.

Published: 5 August 2019 17:11 CEST

Human rights battle: German Bundestag calls on China to allow MPs visit

Margarete Bause of the Greens. Photo: DPA

At the centre of the controversy is Margarete Bause, spokeswoman for human rights in the opposition Greens party.

The 60-year-old lawmaker has in the past accused the Chinese government of curbing human rights.

She has been particularly outspoken in her support for minorities, especially the Uighur community in Xinjiang.

Bause is part of a “Digital Agenda” delegation planning an official visit to China later this month.

Die KP #China hat mich offenbar auf die schwarze Liste gesetzt und verweigert mir die Einreise. Mein Einsatz für die #Menschenrechte wird dadurch nur gestärkt.

Delegationsreise – Margarete Bause darf wohl nicht nach China einreisen https://t.co/ZzIY68foXJ

— Margarete Bause (@MargareteBause) August 3, 2019

Bause tweeted to say her committment to human rights was strengthened by the action.

The Greens politician said Chinese authorities have made it clear to her that the delegation cannot visit China as long as she is part of it, she told daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.

“It is unacceptable for the German Bundestag to be held to ransom,” she was quoted as saying, referring to the lower house of parliament.

A Bundestag spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that a letter was sent to the Chinese ambassador to Germany stressing that the chamber has sole responsibility for appointing delegation members.

Maria Adebahr, spokeswoman for Germany's foreign office, said there had been no “formal rejection” from the Chinese and that talks were ongoing.

Angela Merkel's deputy spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said Monday that the German government was committed to dialogue with China “at all levels”, especially on “difficult issues”.

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Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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