The German Chancellor wants to further develop “economic cooperation with China”, despite “different points of view”.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday (November 4th) as part of a highly controversial visit due to the context of the West’s growing mistrust of the Chinese authoritarian regime.
Xi Jinping asserted that the arrival of the German Chancellor “strengthened practical cooperation” with Germany, according to remarks reported by public television CCTV. For his part, Olaf Scholz explained that he wanted “develop further” economic cooperation with China, despite “from different points of view”.
Olaf Scholz is the first European Union and G7 leader to visit China since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. He was received in the morning at the People’s Palace by Xi Jinping and will then meet with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
The one-day visit, which comes just after Xi Jinping’s reappointment as head of the Chinese Communist Party and the country, is viewed critically not only in Germany, but also in France, Belgium and the United States. United.
In a column published just before his departure, the Chancellor said he was aware that “China today is not the same as it was five or ten years ago”, citing in particular the recent congress of the Chinese Communist Party which cemented the power of Xi Jinping. “If China changes, our relations with China must change too”admitted the German Chancellor, sketching a cautious change of course.