"There are many things that make Alice Weidel an unconventional leader for a German political party on the hard right. Though her marriage to a Sri Lankan-born woman draws most attention, many in government and business circles are equally intrigued by the time she spent in China before entering politics. Ms Weidel lived there for about six years from around 2006, and learned to speak Mandarin before moving home and joining the Alternative for Germany (afd) party in 2013.
She started out in China on a German government scholarship and stayed to write a doctoral thesis on its pension system, entitled “Reform options from a regulatory-theory perspective to increase risk resistance”. Even more unusually for a German politician, she is also reported to have worked for the state-owned Bank of China. And, though there are few public details about what exactly she did in that job, she has said that she learned much from her experience in China and wants to improve bilateral ties."
The most unusual of connections indeed.
I mean, i’m all for reforming the pension-system (maybe make it backed by a wealth tax) and if China can offer any inspiration for that, then i’m all for it. But it is still highly unusual, regardless.