German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday pressed China to lean harder on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while leaders from both nations pledged to work together to combat climate change as two of the world’s biggest carbon dioxide emitters.
Scholz and about half of his Cabinet hosted a delegation led by Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強), making his first foreign trip since becoming China’s No. 2 official in March, as the two nations held high-level government consultations for the seventh time.
The meeting in Berlin came a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, indicating an effort by Beijing to reach out to the West and improve frosty relations.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Germany is keen to maintain good ties with China, its biggest trading partner, despite wariness over Beijing’s growing assertiveness and refusal to criticize the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Germany’s national security strategy describes China as “a partner, competitor and systemic rival.”
Scholz prodded the Chinese delegation to do more to persuade Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
“I appealed again to the Chinese government to exert its influence even more strongly on Russia in this war,” he said, standing alongside Li. “As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China carries a very special duty here.”
“It is important that China continues not to deliver weapons to the aggressor, Russia,” Scholz said, adding that he is “thankful” that Beijing continues to make clear there must be no threat to use nuclear weapons.
Li did not respond directly or mention Ukraine in his statement. The two leaders took no questions.
Germany and China agreed at the meeting to set up a “climate and transformation dialogue” to find ways to make industrial processes more climate-friendly and speed up the transition to renewable energy sources.
Li said that “dealing with climate change should become an important field of cooperation for both sides.”
The Chinese premier emphasized trade and economic issues in his comments.
“Deglobalization is flaring up again and the global economy is lacking growth dynamics,” he said via an interpreter.
He added that “China places great value on the development of relations with Germany and Europe.”
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