German president opens a China visit at Volkswagen’s Hefei center, Swiss president to sign an upgraded trade deal in Beijing ten days after raising Uyghurs, Khorgos car exports up a third

October 28, 2026 Közet Staff

Közet’s daily roundup of news on Uyghurs, their homeland, and the world around them. Wednesday, October 28, 2026.

TOP LINE

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier began a six-day state visit to China on Tuesday at Volkswagen’s development center in Hefei, Anhui, the first visit by a German head of state since 2018, and will hold talks with Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday, according to the program his office published on October 21. The program runs October 26 to 31: Anhui through Wednesday, then Beijing, where he is to speak at Peking University on Thursday and meet National People’s Congress chairman Zhao Leji, Premier Li Qiang and Xi on Friday before a state banquet. In Hefei he told reporters that German technology is still valued in China and that German business should act “with self-confidence” in the market, while calling China’s trade surplus a worry, dpa, Germany’s national news agency, reported. Volkswagen sold its Urumqi plant, where no cars had been built since 2019, and a test track in Turpan to a Shanghai state-owned company in November 2024, citing economic reasons, after years of criticism over its presence in the region. (Office of the Federal President; dpa, via Ariva; Anadolu Agency; heise online)

HOMELAND

Khorgos car exports up 37 percent through September. The Khorgos (Korgas) highway port exported 405,000 vehicles in the first nine months of the year, up 36.8 percent from a year earlier, and handled 35.58 million tonnes of import and export freight, the most of any port in the region, China News Service, a state news agency, reported on Tuesday, citing Khorgos Customs. The figures are the port’s, not the region’s. (China News Service, a state news agency)

DIASPORA

Istanbul stages a twelve-muqam concert with performers from three regions. Musicians from Turkey, Kazakhstan and Europe will perform “Uygur 12 Makam – Sanat Rüzgarı” at Zeytinburnu Culture and Arts Center in Istanbul on Saturday, October 31, organized by the Uyghur Cultural Heritage Project, UygurHaber, a Turkish-language Uyghur news site, reported on Tuesday; a reception begins at 6:30 p.m. and the concert at 7:30 p.m. local time. The organizers say the aim is to pass the tradition to younger generations. The report names no performers. (UygurHaber)

INTERNATIONAL

Swiss president to sign an upgraded trade deal in Beijing, ten days after Bern raised Uyghurs with China. Swiss Federal President Guy Parmelin will meet Xi Jinping on Friday, October 30, and sign a protocol upgrading the two countries’ 2014 free trade agreement, the Swiss government said on October 26; China’s foreign ministry announced the October 30 to November 1 working visit on Wednesday. The Swiss statement says the protocol, negotiated to a close in August, improves market access for Swiss goods and investment and strengthens “environmental and labour standards,” and lists talks with China’s trade, social affairs, education and science ministers and the opening of a Swiss-Chinese economic forum. The visit follows the October 20 human rights dialogue in Bern at which the Swiss foreign ministry raised Uyghurs, Tibetans and the new ethnic-unity law, as Közet reported Tuesday. (Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs; China News Service, a state news agency)

MEDIA WATCH

State media cast the Volkswagen stop as cooperation deepening. Global Times, a tabloid published by People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s newspaper, headlined Steinmeier’s Hefei visit “China-Germany auto cooperation deepens” and quoted a trade-association researcher calling it “symbolic” and an automotive analyst urging German carmakers to “seize the opportunity” to work with Chinese firms; it reported his test drive of a locally developed ID. AURA model and the company’s claim that the Hefei center cuts development time by about 30 percent. CGTN, the state broadcaster’s international arm, ran a piece headed “In search of partnership and pragmatism: Steinmeier’s Beijing visit.” The company the coverage describes sold its Urumqi plant and Turpan test track in November 2024 after years of criticism over its presence in the region. (Global Times, a tabloid published by People’s Daily; CGTN, the state broadcaster’s international arm; heise online)

ON THE RADAR

Today, 1 p.m. Eastern: U.S. Customs and Border Protection demonstrates its updated Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act enforcement-statistics dashboard in a webinar announced in Cargo Systems Messaging Service bulletin 70251118 on October 21; a replay is to be posted on CBP’s trade outreach page.
Today, New York: Emily Feng discusses Our Hearts Burned for Home: Uyghur Militants in Syria’s Civil War at Columbia Journalism School (1 p.m.) and Asia Society (6:30 p.m.), per the publisher’s calendar.
Friday, Beijing: Steinmeier’s talks with Zhao Leji, Li Qiang and Xi Jinping, per the Federal President’s program; Parmelin’s meeting with Xi and the signing of the Swiss-Chinese trade protocol, per the Swiss government.

Radar is compiled by Közet’s editors from Közet’s own reporting, public documents and other outlets’ work, attributed in each item. Where Közet has read the underlying record, the item says so; where it could not verify a claim, the item says that too. Statements by governments and companies are reported as statements, not facts. Uyghur place names appear first, with the official Chinese name in parentheses. Published weekdays at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Editorial standards and corrections: kozet.org/editorial-standards.