In Brief

1. EU starts High Level Discussion about Relations to China
2. Green Choice Alliance againt heavy metal pollution of IT-Industry in China
3. Bonn, June 2010: After the failure of Copenhagen: Chinesisch-European NGO Conference
4. Civil society's development in China: Conference Report and Publication
5. New Publications on Labour Rights and Trade
6. Publications of the EU-China Civil Society Forum

1.) EU starts High Level Discussion about Relations to China

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EU's Foreign Ministers and Heads of States have discussed on their informal Gymnich Meeting Europe's strategic partnership with China (Friday 10th - Saturday 11th September); then at the European Council meeting (Thursday 16th September). There will then be an EU-China summit on the 6th October, again in Brussels. The discussion is aimed to strengthen the role of the European World Politics, to define its relations to the emerging countries, like China, India and Brasil und to strengthen the EU's foreign policy coherence.

This was also expressed in a letter of the German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle has also written to his counterparts of the EU states and the EU Foreign Minister Ashton (in German), calling the current EU policy towards China not clear enough and the EU should focus more on its interest regarding China and develop partnerships with other Asian countries. He also lobbied that China should release political prisoners who were involved with the Tiananmen Demostration in 1989 and the EU states should be caution in lifting the arms-embargo of China. Especially the French government is in favour of lifting the arms embargo. It is said, that within the discussions the proposal was made to lift the embargo if the Chinese government signs the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

The Chinese side reacted on Westerwelle's letter, without mentioning Westerwelle's suggestions on human rights. The Xinhua, the official news agency of China, says that Merkel tried to distant her policy from China in the beginning of her administration (the previous term), but is now working practicially with the German-Chinese relations. Westerwelle's position is violating the interest of both sides and it wont last for long.
Related to this discussions some documents and articles were released:

In a letter to Europe's leaders, ECFR senior policy fellow Francois Godement and ECFR director Mark Leonard argue that the financial crisis may have increased the EU's leverage when it deals with Beijing.

In another article, "A Global China Policy", Francois Godement advocates that EU states should develop an united position in dealing with China, "Europe needs to co-ordinate its own policy more effectively and to co-operate with other countries to increase its limited leverage over China." It suggests five priority areas, where Europe should begin to develop a global China policy with, namely trade and investment policy; industry and technology; climate change; nuclear proliferation and Iran; and human rights.

2.) Green Choice Alliance: IT industry and heavy metal pollution

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While the environmental impact of smelters, tanneries, fertilizer producers, and chemical companies has received a great deal of scrutiny over the past few years, the IT industry has been more or less given a free pass. So says Ma Jun, the director of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs, one of the 34 NGO’s that published a report in Apri 2010 (2010 Study of Heavy Metal Pollution by IT Brand Supply Chain: Report I), accusing IT companies of contaminating water and soil with heavy metals, particularly in the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas.

The report even leveled chargesat prestigious international firms like Microsoft and Intel, claiming that pollution caused by component suppliers, particularly circuit printing factories, is damaging both environmental and public health. A series of documentation (Report II, released in June 2010 and Report III, released in August 2010), has been then made, to further discover and discuss the issues.

The EU-China Civil Society Forum just published a German version of these documents helpfing to give Chinese NGOs a voice in Europe.

3.) After the failure of Copenhagen: EU-China climate change exchange and conference

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Organized by "EU-China Civil Society Forum", in cooperation with Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World), European Climate Foundation, Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Church Development Service) and Heinrich Boell Foundation, 13 Chinese Environmental NGOs' staff were invited to exchange with their German counterparts.

An international conference was then held on 28-30 June, helping to strengthen the exchange between European and Chinese civil society organisations. It explores possibilities, conditions and limitations for European-Chinese civil society cooperation in promoting low carbon economies. It discusses conflicting interests and trade-offs as well as the social implications of transforming growth oriented economies to low carbon economies.

Event notes and programmes Contributions from participants

4.) Civil society development in China: Report and Research Paper

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Community Building and Grassroot NGOs: Workshop Report

In the framework of the Biennale 2010, the Guangzhou Institute for Civil Society and the German Asia Foundation jointly organized the workshop on Sustainable Community Development and Grassroots NGO. Invited participants were associations from Sichuan and Guangdong as well as from Latvia, France and Germany. The topic focussed on the role of social and environmental associations in building sustainable urban communities. In fact, special attention was given to housing communities.

How to gain trust and promote system innovation: strategies of Chinese civil society organizations collaborating with the government
Reviewing one case study of civil society organization's collabration with the local government, the authors are presenting the Chinese civil society's strategies of existing, engaging and empowering, a unique experience with Chinese characteristics.

5.) New Publications on Labour Rights and Trade

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Staphany Wong: Decoding the New Generation of Chinese Migrant Workers, EU-China Civil Society Forum,
As a series of strikes broke out and number of workers' suicides intensified over the past few months, the author is looking into the case studies of Foxconn and Honda, to analyze the mentality of the new generation of Chinese migrant workers, and the reality they are facing.
György Széll: Changing Labour Relations in China
The author points out that, despite 30 years of economic reform, the Chinese workers are denied to form free trade union and social inequality is on the rise
Globalization Monitor: European Companies Lobbying in China and Chinese Reponses
This new report from Globalization Monitor, a Hong Kong-based NGO, offers an informed picture of how EU corporate interests, through lobbying and sophisticated methods of influence, have affected China's emergence into the global economy, yet, at the expenses at the labour's interests, or even human rights.
To order this report, please contact Globalization Monitor.

6.) Publications of the EU-China Civil Society Forum

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The following publications can be downloaded from www.eu-china.web. Hard copies can be obtained by email to vertrieb@asienhaus.de for 5 Euro (plus handling). All three publications are availabe in Chinese, too.

Civil Society in European-Chinese Relations
Hard copies are available at Asian House vertrieb@asienhaus.de, 5 Euro/copy (postage not included), 104 pages. To download this report, click here. (download the Chinese version).

Released in January 2010, this brochure gives a short summary on the development and current state of the Chinese-European relations, analyzes the possibilities of European NGOs in influencing EU policies, discusses the China images of European NGOs, and describes the specific challenges and dilemmas in Chinese-European NGO cooperation.
It comprises articles of Jörn-Carsten Gottwald, Christa Wichterich and Nora Sausmikat.

Global Concerns - Global Cooperation. How European and Chinese NGOs Can Learn from Euch Other
Hard copies are available at Asian House vertrieb@asienhaus.de, 10 Euro/copy (postage not included), 198 pages. To download this report, click here. The link to the Chinese version can be found on the same page.

Released in March 2010, it collects outcomes of discussions from 40 representatives of European and Chinese NGOs, who met in Guangzhou and Hainan in June 2009, to exchange their work experiences on climate change, food security and water.This "experiment" resulted in new findings on both sides on the respective working conditions and challenges for the future cooperation.
The booklet illustrates the course of these meetings and the ideas for an intensified cooperation between Chinese and European NGOs.

Sven Hansen: No Conspiracy Against China
Sven Hansen, editor of the Asia-Pacific desk of the German daily TAZ, comments a study of the Heinrich-Boell-Fondation on the German media coverage of China. His summary: No conspiracy, but more background analysis is necessary.

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20.9.2010

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