- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- 'Unsustainable' housing crisis bedevils Spain's socialist govt
- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- Stocks diverge, oil retreats as China disappoints markets
- Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality
- Ex-Stasi officer jailed over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Stock markets diverge before China weekend briefing
- EU questions shopping app Temu over illegal products risk
- Han Kang's books sell out in South Korea after Nobel win
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
- Investors, analysts eye bigger China stimulus at Saturday briefing
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
CMSC | 0.12% | 24.739 | $ | |
RBGPF | 2.84% | 61.23 | $ | |
BCC | 0.72% | 143.4 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
JRI | -0.34% | 13.205 | $ | |
RIO | 0.53% | 67.585 | $ | |
SCS | 0.31% | 12.95 | $ | |
NGG | 0.98% | 66.895 | $ | |
BCE | -1.6% | 32.5 | $ | |
GSK | 0.74% | 39.121 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.43% | 7.03 | $ | |
RELX | 1.09% | 47.345 | $ | |
BTI | 0.78% | 35.455 | $ | |
AZN | 1.03% | 78.155 | $ | |
VOD | 0.26% | 9.675 | $ | |
BP | -0.53% | 31.94 | $ |
'Tough balancing act': Chinese, German leaders hold talks
Chancellor Olaf Scholz hosts Premier Li Qiang for talks on Tuesday, seeking to recalibrate cooperation between Germany and China after Berlin branded Beijing a "systemic rival".
Li is on his first trip abroad since he was named premier in March and tasked with shoring up China's sputtering post-Covid economy.
But unlike previous visits by Chinese dignitaries, when pragmatic German leaders eager to expand business ties with the Asian giant rolled out the red carpet, Li's trip comes as Germany is rushing to diversify its trading partners.
Burned by its reliance on Russian gas and hurt by supply chain disruptions during the pandemic, Germany is intensifying its efforts to "de-risk" from China.
Meeting Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday, Li said China was ready to work with Germany to contribute to "global stability and prosperity".
Yet when he sits down with Scholz, Germany's first national security strategy, published days ago, will set the tone.
The blueprint stridently accused China of acting against German interests, putting international security "under increasing pressure" and disregarding human rights.
But it also underlined the necessity of getting Beijing's cooperation on global issues such as fighting climate change.
Beijing has bristled at being described as a "partner, competitor and systemic rival" in the text, saying such labels would only "push our world towards a vortex of division and confrontation".
- 'Stress test' -
Tuesday's talks between the two governments is "a stress test on whether genuine partnership between Berlin and Beijing is still possible", Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute, told AFP.
"It's open as to whether Germany continues to play the game of pretending there is broad agreement with Beijing... or whether it chooses a new path of straight talk and limiting the final statement to areas where there is a genuine path forward for cooperation," he added.
Spiegel magazine said that "finding the right and appropriate way to deal with China is almost impossible".
China has been accused of stirring regional instability with threats against Taiwan and of rights abuses against Uyghurs, while refusing to distance itself from Russia's Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, it is "important to continue to have a relationship of trust" with Beijing, Spiegel noted.
"Managing this balancing act without suffering a hernia is a real challenge" not just at Tuesday's talks, but "in the years and decades to come", it said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, one of the most strident critics of Beijing's human rights policies, has signalled that the way to handle the delicate situation was to boost cooperation with China on areas on which both sides can agree, such as the climate.
But on economic issues, Scholz's government has repeatedly underlined that ending reliance is the key.
Speaking at a major German industry event on Monday, Scholz said the "G7 has no interest in preventing China's economic rise".
"At the same time, we are looking carefully at preventing dangerous economic reliance in the future."
Addressing the same event, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg noted that many had previously thought that buying gas from Russia was "a purely commercial decision, only to learn the hard way".
"We must not make the same mistake once again with other authoritarian regimes, not least China," he warned.
P.Schmidt--CPN