The International Campaign for Tibet, Amnesty International and Reporter Without Borders, have issued a joint statement calling on the German government to raise human rights issues with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, who visits Berlin on May 31, for talks with the German government.

The three NGOs urged Chancellor Angela Merkel to raise the worsening human rights situation in the People’s Republic of China and to demand concrete steps to improve the situation, while pointing to the systematically heightened repression since Xi Jinping had become President of the PRC, be it in terms of repressive laws, the use of torture, unlawful detention and persecution of dissent, of activists and journalists, as well as repressive policies in Tibet and Xinjiang.

ICT Germany’s Executive Director Kai Müller: “It cannot be all about trade and the economy when Li Keqiang meets the Chancellor. Quite the opposite: the German government should put human rights, the worrisome situation in Tibet and elsewhere in the PRC at heart and center of its dealings with the Chinese government.” Mueller particularly referred to the yet increasing number of self-immolations in Tibet and China, the unlawful detentions of human rights defenders such as language advocate Tashi Wangchuk, or the still unresolved passing of the respected Buddhist teacher Tenzin Delek Rinpoche in 2015.

The Chinese Prime Minister will visit Germany from 31 May to 1 June and will then travel on to the EU-China Summit to take in Brussels.