BEIJING (AP) — Economic and business ties between China and Germany are expected to dominate Monday
discussions between Chinese leaders and Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is visiting Beijing with a large
business delegation.
On her seventh visit to China as chancellor, Merkel will meet Premier Li Keqiang on Monday morning, then
attend a meeting of the China-Germany Economic and Trade Commission. In the evening, she will meet with
President Xi Jinping, who visited Berlin in March.
The pair are not strangers. In March, Xi visited Germany and the two oversaw the signing of deals
including agreements for automakers Daimler and BMW to deepen ties with their Chinese partners.
Hailing Merkel’s visit, China’s official news agency Xinhua said in a commentary Sunday that
“China-Germany relations are at their best in history … strongly underpinned by the pragmatic
cooperation between the two economic heavyweights.” It pointed out that Germany is China’s largest
trading partner in Europe, while China is Germany’s biggest in the Asia-Pacific region.
Negotiations with Iran to end its nuclear program and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine may also come up in
Monday’s discussions. Both China and Germany are part of the six-nation group that is trying to thrash
out a nuclear deal with Iran. Merkel has been a key figure in trying to reduce tensions in Ukraine and
get Russia to cooperate.
Merkel touched down Sunday in Chengdu city in southwest China, where she met members of a German-Chinese
dialogue forum, attended a forum on urbanization cooperation between the local province and Germany, and
visited a Volkswagen production plant which employs about 7,300 people.
On Tuesday, she will give a speech to students at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.
China and Germany, two of the world’s leading exporters, had a bilateral trade volume last year of 140.4
billion euros ($193 billion) — making China Germany’s No. 3 trade partner, ahead of the United States.