Global Courant
BERLIN — Germany’s chancellor on Tuesday urged China to lean harder on Russia over the war in Ukraine, while the leaders of both countries pledged to work together to combat climate change as two of the world’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and about half of his cabinet received a delegation led by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who made his first trip abroad since becoming China’s No. 2 in March, when the two nations held high-level government talks for the seventh time. kept level.
The meeting in Berlin comes a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, signaling Beijing’s attempt to reach out to the West and improve frosty relations.
Germany is eager to maintain good ties with China, its largest trading partner, despite caution over Beijing’s growing assertiveness and refusal to criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Germany’s recently published national security strategy describes China as “a partner, competitor and systemic rival”.
Scholz urged the Chinese delegation to do more to persuade Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
“I appealed again to the Chinese government to exert even more influence on Russia in this war,” he said, standing next to Li. “As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has a very special task here.”
“It is important that China does not continue to supply weapons to the aggressor, Russia,” Scholz said, adding that he is “grateful” that China continues to make it clear that there should be no threat to use nuclear weapons.
Li did not immediately respond and did not mention Ukraine in his statement. The two leaders did not answer questions.
Germany and China agreed at Tuesday’s meeting to set up a “climate and transformation dialogue” to find ways to make industrial processes more climate-friendly and accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources. Scholz pointed to extreme weather events such as droughts in China and floods in Germany to illustrate the importance of action.
“As major emitters of CO2, Germany and China bear a special responsibility in the fight against climate change,” he told reporters. “We will take on this responsibility together.”
Li said that “addressing climate change should become an important area of cooperation for both sides.”
The Chinese premier emphasized trade and economic issues in his comments. “De-globalization flares up again and the global economy lacks growth momentum,” said an interpreter. He added that “China attaches great importance to developing relations with Germany and Europe.”
After visiting the largest economy in the European Union, Li will travel to France – the second largest – where he will attend the “Summit for a New Global Finance Pact” being held at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Scholz has said he wants to avoid over-reliance on Chinese trade and diversify the supply of key goods to Germany – an approach he calls “risk reduction”. He said he reassured Li that “we have an interest in economic decoupling from China.” The position was echoed last month by the leading industrial powers of the Group of Seven.
He noted that “access to the Chinese market and fair competitive conditions for German and other foreign companies in China remain a challenge, to which we are pressing for concrete improvements.”
As Scholz and Li met, German security officials warned of the continuing danger of Chinese espionage.
A report by the domestic intelligence agency BfV, released Tuesday, notes that the Chinese Ministry of State Security is actively seeking information on areas of political, economic and scientific interest to Beijing, as well as Chinese dissidents in Germany.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the country is also examining the potential risks of using telecommunication equipment from Chinese company Huawei in Germany’s 5G networks.
“This investigation will be completed in the summer and then we will provide an assessment,” she said, adding that it could lead to Huawei equipment having to be removed.
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Associated Press writer Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
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