Xi urges a 'rational, pragmatic and friendly' German China policy; Steinmeier says China's trade surplus with Germany should shrink.
President Xi Jinping held talks with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on a state visit, at the Great Hall of the People on the afternoon of 30 October. According to the foreign ministry readout, Xi said the two countries should build a new model of cooperation featuring equality, mutual benefit and strategic stability and open a new chapter in their all-round strategic partnership; he urged Germany to keep a rational, pragmatic and friendly China policy and to give Chinese companies in Germany a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment, offered cooperation in AI, green development, trade in services and the digital economy, and said China-EU cooperation outweighs competition. Xi also briefed Steinmeier on the Party's fifth plenum. The readout said Steinmeier reaffirmed Germany's one-China policy, said trade differences could be settled through dialogue, and voiced support for free trade and WTO rules and opposition to trade wars. Deutsche Welle reported that Steinmeier told Xi China's large trade surplus with Germany should be reduced, said the international order was under strain with "might is right" seemingly on the rise and that the world needs China to help uphold it, and that the two discussed the Middle East, Sudan and Russia-Ukraine. Reuters said the visit comes amid rising EU-China trade tensions, with Brussels warning it will use every means to address its widening deficit. Steinmeier also met Premier Li Qiang earlier that day and was scheduled to return to Germany on 31 October.
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