German Chancellor Friedrich Merz held a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Germany, Europe's largest economy and a country running a widening trade deficit with China, proposed strengthening cooperation and asked China to join efforts to end the war in Ukraine. China emphasized uncertainty stemming from the United States and urged defending multilateralism and the free-trade system.
According to China's state-run China Central Television (CCTV) and Reuters, Chancellor Merz arrived in Beijing on the morning of the 25th to begin a two-day visit. An economic delegation of about 30 representatives from major sectors, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Siemens, and Adidas, accompanied Merz. The visit came right after a string of European leaders' trips to China since the start of the year and ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to China at the end of next month.
Merz and Xi met at 5:30 p.m. local time at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse for a summit over dinner. In his greeting, Merz said, "We value our relations with China, firmly uphold the 'one China' principle, and hope to inherit the tradition of friendship with China, maintain mutual respect and open cooperation, and continue to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries."
He added, "German corporations attach great importance to the Chinese market and hope to further strengthen cooperation with China to achieve mutual benefit and common development." Merz also said, "It is in the interests of both sides—and helps the world's stability and prosperity—for the European Union (EU) and China to develop a reliable and sustainable economic and trade partnership," adding, "Germany supports strengthening dialogue and cooperation between Europe and China."
The war in Ukraine was also raised. Merz urged Xi to join efforts to end the war in Ukraine, and Xi explained China's principled position, saying, "The key is to seek solutions through dialogue and negotiations." He added, "All parties should be ensured equal participation, consolidate the foundation of peace, fully respect each side's legitimate concerns, strengthen the will for peace, achieve common security, and build a sustainable peace framework."
◇ Germany seeks to cut reliance on China… China says "we are more predictable than the U.S., let's expand cooperation"
Germany is Europe's largest economy and China's biggest trading partner in Europe, and cooperation between Germany and China is expected to be a barometer for EU–China relations. Germany's largest trading partner last year was not the United States but China, and investment in China the same year hit a four-year high. Whenever China tightened its grip on supply chains, such as rare earths, amid the U.S.–China tariff war, German manufacturers reported production delays. Germany is also one of the countries that experienced a representative "China shock," in which domestic manufacturing was shaken as Chinese manufacturing grew rapidly.
In response, Germany is advancing a de-risking policy to reduce dependence on China. European countries, including Germany, also hope for Chinese investment. The Associated Press said, "European leaders want Chinese corporations to build production facilities in their countries," adding, "They want to address China's overproduction that is driving down prices in areas such as electric vehicles and solar panels, and to remove the trade barriers European corporations face in China."
China, for its part, argues against the need for de-risking by stressing that the two countries are economically inseparable. The state-run Global Times said in an editorial that "although narratives such as de-risking have influenced Germany's China policy in recent years, the two countries' economic ties have strong endogenous momentum," adding, "German scholars also assess that de-risking has not achieved results and argue that the two sides should expand cooperation in key areas." It argued that amid U.S.-origin uncertainty, countries should increase cooperation with a "more predictable" China.
Meanwhile, on the 26th, Merz will visit the Mercedes-Benz factory in Beijing, then travel to Hangzhou, China's hub for high-tech industries, to inspect Unitree, a leading Chinese humanoid (human-shaped robot) company, and Siemens' German-run facilities.