Chinese individuals are currently “absent from the German immigration debate.” Even though they are few, their numbers are growing.
Although the German voters overwhelmingly supported anti-immigrant policies in this week’s election, which saw the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) finish in second place. However, the new generation of immigrants is silently praying that the current upheaval on liberal democracy won’t upend their hopes of safety.
Mixed Reactions to the Chinese Refugees
They traversed the perilous, icy trek via the Balkan mountains on their way to Germany. Bosnia and Herzegovina are typically where they enter Europe. From there, they travel to Croatia and Slovenia before reaching Germany.
In 2020, the number of Chinese asylum applications to Germany more than doubled in a single year.
Four years later there were 250,945 asylum claims filed in Germany overall, a roughly 30 decrease from 2023. But over the same period, the number of Chinese applications increased by over 70 percent, reaching over 1,000.
However, even though Chinese migrants view Germany as a refugee-friendly country, their chances of being granted asylum appear to be low. Nearly half of Chinese asylum applicants in Germany were turned away in 2024. Only roughly 5 percent of Chinese asylum applicants were turned away, according to the most current data from France, a historically more conservative nation.
However, there is a distinction in who the German authorities deny: they are far more accepting of applicants from China’s historically persecuted minorities, the Uighurs and Tibetans. According to a recent Germany foreign office report on asylum and deportation in connection to China that was given to Welt, the German federal government acknowledges that the situation has been becoming “considerably worse” for minorities and those who do not support the Chinese Communist Party control.
Instead of the volatility and tangible dangers of war, the numbers show the uncertainty around how to deal with this new kind of refugee: those escaping the Chinese Communist party’s tyrannical hold. Many may question why someone who lives in a country with a generally stable economy and a GDP per capita that is about average for the world would decide to incur so many risks in order to start over elsewhere.
The Background of Chinese Migration to Germany
Driven by Chinese traders and sailors, Hamburg’s Chinatown arose in the St. Pauli neighborhood in the 1920s. By 1935, there were over 1,800 Chinese living in Germany, up from 43 in 1903, with sizable communities in Hamburg and Berlin.
The Nazi government started pursuing political rivals, particularly Chinese people associated with socialist or communist organizations.
The “Chinesenaktion” (Chinese Action), in which the Gestapo invaded Schmuckstraße on May 13, 1944, and arrested some 130 Chinese people,
marked the height of the persecution. Many of them died when were relocated to the Langer Morgen work camp in September.
Only over 30 Chinese people remained in Hamburg at the end of World War II, almost eradicating the Chinese population in Germany. However, the post-war era saw the arrival of fresh Chinese immigration. By 1967, the group in West Germany had grown to 2,500 members.
The Difficulties Faced by Chinese Communities
Chinatowns no longer exist in Germany. However, because to improved trade and investment as well as solid Germany-China relations, the Chinese community has expanded dramatically in the twenty-first century. Germany’s respectable and reasonably priced higher education system has made it a popular choice for Chinese students. It is believed that there are about 300,000 members of the Chinese community, including Chinese citizens and persons of Chinese heritage. The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area, Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich have the largest concentrations of Chinese people.
Some towns have developed close business and institutional relations with China; Duisburg even dubbed itself Germany’s “China city.”
German research institutes and universities welcome a large number of Chinese students. However, the rising geopolitical tensions between China and the West have recently had an impact on how the general public views Chinese students.
It has been evident in several instances that the Chinese government closely monitors and controls Chinese students studying in Germany.
Contracts with the China Scholarship Council (CSC) bind many students, requiring allegiance to the Chinese government and discouraging actions that could jeopardize China’s interests.
Beginning in the 2020s, there was a heated discussion in Germany about the potential threat of Chinese students engaging in espionage. Particularly, students who get CSC scholarships are suspected of spying on German scientific institutes. The German Rectors’ Conference proposed prohibiting the admission of Chinese students with CSC scholarships as a result of this suspicion. Chinese students are becoming more and more suspicious in the current environment.
The identification of unauthorized Chinese “police stations” functioning in Germany further compounded the problem.
The smuggling and trafficking of Chinese nationals into Germany is another noteworthy contemporary topic. A luxury smuggling ring that charged affluent Chinese people up to 360,000 euros to unlawfully seek residency in Germany was revealed by authorities in 2024. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified xenophobia and prejudice toward the Chinese minority in Germany, leading to instances of physical and verbal violence.
