Xi for Scholz’s political trust is easy to destroy, hard to build.

Beijing November 4/2011 Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first G7 leader to visit China since the start of the Covid epidemic, met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and warned that mutual political trust could easily be lost.

Scholz’s one-day visit is testing the waters between China and the West, as analysts have discussed Russia’s war on Ukraine, climate change and mutual market access.

Over lunch with Scholz, Xi stressed that political trust is easy to destroy but hard to rebuild, and that both sides must nurture it.

Xi told Scholz that China and Germany must respect each other and protect each other’s core interests, Xinhua reported.

Earlier in the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing, Scholz urged the two countries to work more closely together on international issues.

“In times of change and turmoil as big and influential countries, China and Germany should cooperate more and contribute more to world peace and development,” Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

“The global situation today is complex and dynamic.

Before their lunch meeting, Scholz told Xi that it was good for the two leaders to meet in person at a time of tension, and the German’s comments suggest that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is causing problems for the rule-based international order. Representation.

Scholes met with outgoing Premier Li Keqiang in the afternoon and told Li that China and Germany were not “combining” friends.

Scholz said he raised the Taiwan issue at a news conference after speaking with Lee. China claims the island as its own territory and has never relented on its use of force to seize it.

“Like the United States and other countries, we follow the one-China policy. But I have made it equally clear that any changes to Taiwan’s current status must be peaceful or consensual,” he said.

Covid measures

Scholz and a delegation of German business leaders flying with him underwent COVID-19 tests when they arrived in Beijing on Friday morning, while Chinese medical colleagues wearing hazmat suits boarded the plane to conduct the tests, a Reuters reporter accompanying the delegation reported.

The delegation moved from the airport to the State Guest House to secure their results, which Scholz quickly cleared, the press team said.

Members of the German Embassy in Beijing who will meet with the delegation will undergo standard quarantine procedures, including seven days in a hotel and three days at home, government sources said.

China’s strict zero-covid policy and tensions with the West have made it impossible for major Western leaders to visit China, but Xi resumed foreign trips only in September.

Since the end of the ruling Communist Party’s 20th National Congress last month, many foreign leaders have been exempted from strict Covid restrictions by visiting China and being kept in a “bubble” to reduce the risk of COVID cases entering Beijing.

Testing the water

Scholz’s visit is likely to be a positive development for the Chinese leadership, which is trying to strengthen its relations with the outside world. Read more

“In the current domestic and international environment, China is looking forward to his visit and everything that both sides have to say in Beijing, especially shortly after the Party Congress,” said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing.

Scholes is keen to emphasize the need for continued cooperation with China at a time of historic inflation and recession in Germany. Read more

Prior to the visit, the coalition of the European Union and the German government had been criticizing the visit, mainly from the Green Party and the liberals.

These tensions were highlighted by last week’s deal on a Hamburg port terminal where Chinese shipping giant Cosco won approval from Berlin despite opposition from coalition partners.

China’s crucial role in key industries from shipbuilding to electric vehicles, and Germany’s unprecedented economic storm, means Scholes needs cooperation with China, as did her predecessor Angela Merkel, said the center’s director, Jean Monnet Professor Wang Yiwei. European Studies at Renmin University.

“Merkel was also ideologically against[China]in the beginning, but she changed her tune. Scholes changed her tune quickly, but she doesn’t have as strong a domestic political position as Merkel,” he said.

(This story has been revised to correct a grammatical error in paragraph 12.)

Report by Andres Rinke and Eduardo Baptista; Writing by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Kim Coghill and Christian Schmollinger

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.