Audio file of Andrew J. Nathan's talk at the DGAP (in English)
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Like any country that wishes to do business with Asia’s global economic powerhouse, Nathan argues that Germany has strong incentives for promoting rule of law and basic civil and political rights in China – not least on behalf of the German employees of Chinese companies and Chinese employees of German companies. It is very much in Germany’s own interest that human rights continue to play a role in the dialogue between China and Germany – and by extension, between China and Europe as a whole. The ensuing discussion was moderated by Prof. Eberhard Sandschneider, Otto Wolff Director of the DGAP.
Nathan, Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, has taught there since 1971. He has been in Berlin this fall as Axel Springer Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. He co-chairs the board of Human Rights in China and sits on the advisory committee of Human Rights Watch Asia, among other activities. His engagement for human rights in China has made him persona non grata in Beijing.
The DGAP series on “values and interests” developed in turn from an ongoing consideration of the subbject launched early in the year by Jörg Lau in the German weekly Die ZEIT. Not only German policy, but “Western” foreign policy as a whole, has been under discussion.
Audio file of Andrew Nathan’s talk, followed by a discussion, December 3, 2013 (in English)