
EU should see China’s rise as an opportunity, Xi tells Merkel
- ‘We hope that the EU will make a correct judgment independently and truly achieve strategic autonomy,’ Chinese president tells German chancellor
- EU will uphold autonomy on foreign policy and Germany will play a positive role in strengthening dialogue and cooperation between Europe and China, Merkel says
“China’s development is an opportunity for the EU, and we hope that the EU will make a correct judgment independently and truly achieve strategic autonomy,” Xi told Merkel.
“China is willing to work together with Europe to negotiate a series of important political agendas for the next phase, deepen and expand pragmatic cooperation in various fields, strengthen communication on global governance issues such as climate change, and jointly practice multilateralism,” he said.
According to Xinhua, Merkel said the EU would uphold its autonomy on foreign policy and Germany would play a positive role in strengthening dialogue and cooperation between Europe and China, as this “is not just in the interest of our two sides, but also in the interest of the world”.

China had been Germany’s biggest trading partner for the past five years and would keep its economy open to businesses from around the world, including Germany, Xi said.
“We hope that the German side will remain open and create more facilities for enterprises of both countries to expand mutually beneficial cooperation,” he said.
Xi also expressed his hope that Germany would use the Beijing Winter Olympics as an opportunity to promote exchanges between the two countries, Xinhua said.
In March, the EU imposed its first significant sanctions against Chinese officials since 1989, along with its allies the US, Britain and Canada. Beijing, which denies the allegations, hit back by blacklisting a number of EU lawmakers and entities.
