German Contender Wants Tougher Stance on China, Russia

BERLIN - A leading contender to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor this fall has called for "dialogue and toughness" toward China when it comes to defending democratic values and human rights.

Annalena Baerbock, the environmentalist Greens' candidate for chancellorship, told the weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that Europe should use its economic might to block Chinese goods made with forced labor and avoid communications technologies that endanger European security. "We are currently in a competition between systems: authoritarian powers versus liberal democracies," she said in an interview published Sunday. Baerbock cited China's investment in infrastructure and energy grids through Central Asia to Europe as "brutal power politics."