On the 25th, German Chancellor Merz led a high-level economic and trade delegation to visit Beijing, where he met separately with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. This is his first visit to China since taking office. Xi Jinping said that both sides should strengthen strategic communication and promote continuous new development of the all-round strategic partnership between China and Germany. Merz stated that the German business community attaches great importance to the Chinese market and hopes to further deepen cooperation with China. The two sides issued a China-Germany Joint Statement, emphasizing that this visit 'injects new momentum into the development of the partnership between the two countries.' Both sides agreed to continue the China-Germany Dialogue on Climate Change and Green Transition.
Merz is the first foreign leader China has received in the Year of the Horse in the lunar calendar. Accompanied by a high-level delegation of 30 German business representatives, he will continue his visit to Hangzhou on the 26th. The New York Times describes Merz's core stance as roughly follows: Europe should reduce its dependence on both China and the United States, avoiding being controlled on the global stage—yet it should not completely sever ties with either China or the US. According to Bloomberg, Germany's investment in China last year reached its highest level in four years, which runs counter to Berlin's 'de-risking' rhetoric regarding Beijing, highlighting the inescapable economic attraction.
According to Xinhua News Agency, during his meeting with Merz, Xi Jinping pointed out that the more turbulent and intertwined the world becomes, the more China and Germany need to strengthen strategic communication and enhance strategic mutual trust, promoting the continuous development of the all-round strategic partnership. He hopes that Germany will view China's development objectively and rationally, pursue an active and pragmatic policy toward China, and work with China to promote steady and long-term development of China-Germany relations. Both sides should support the two countries’ mutual flow of talent, knowledge, and technology, and promote dialogue and cooperation in cutting-edge fields such as AI.
Merz said that Germany cherishes its relations with China and firmly upholds the one-China policy. The German business community attaches great importance to the Chinese market and hopes to further deepen cooperation, achieve mutual benefit and common development. Germany expects to strengthen coordination with China, adhere to free trade, oppose protectionism, and support strengthened dialogue and cooperation between China and Europe.
The China-Germany Joint Statement points out that economic and trade cooperation is an important component of bilateral relations. China has noted Germany’s concerns about 'reducing dependence,' trade imbalances, and export controls, while Germany has heard China's concerns about the securitization of economic and trade issues and export controls on high-tech products. Both sides are willing to properly resolve each other's concerns through frank and open dialogue to ensure a long-term, balanced, reliable, and sustainable economic and trade relationship.
China and Germany signed five documents covering cooperation on climate change and green transition, cooperation on animal epidemic prevention and poultry product agreements, as well as sports cooperation agreements in football and table tennis.
About 30 executives from leading German enterprises in the fields of automobiles, chemicals, biopharmaceuticals, machinery manufacturing, and the circular economy accompanied Merz on this visit. According to German media, these business representatives include executives from companies such as Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Volkswagen, Siemens, and Adidas, and the actual number of executives interested in joining the trip far exceeded 30.