GERMAN Chancellor Dr Helmut Kohl will be the first foreign head of state to visit Chinese ground forces since the People's Liberation Army (PLA) crushed the democracy movement six years ago.
Dr Kohl will arrive on Sunday for a four-day visit to China. After his political talks on Monday in Beijing, the PLA has arranged a rare visit to the 196 Infantry Division based outside Tianjin.
The visit was set up last week by the State Secretary in Germany's Ministry of Defence, Jorg Schonbohm.
The Chancellor's PLA visit is a signal that Germany wants to extend its political relations with China to military leaders, who in Bonn's view could play an important role in the political transition period.
Bonn also wants to integrate China into Asian and global security concepts not unlike that done with the former Soviet Union in the Helsinki Conference for Security and Co-operation.
The Chancellor's office in Bonn has denied Germany wants to get into the Chinese arms business - but German industry has high hopes. Dr Kohl, who has built a special relationship with the Chinese leadership during his eight visits to Beijing, is travelling with a big business delegation including the bosses of Siemens, Volkswagen, Krupp, Thyssen and Lufthansa.
China wants Europe's arms embargo to be lifted so it can buy arms worldwide. The military is primarily interested in modernising its jet fighters, a project originally planned by the US Air Force before 1989.