Beijing and Berlin seek closer economic ties despite tensions

Chinese Premier Li Liang and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meet during the G20 summit in South Africa. The two leaders agreed to strengthen economic relations and deeper cooperation in strategic sectors.

Specifically, Beijing proposes cooperation in new energy, intelligent manufacturing automation, biomedicine, hydrogen technology and autonomous vehicles.

The rapprochement between the countries comes after recent tensions caused by China's restrictions on exports of rare earths and chips. Yet they remain closely linked economically.

China is one of Germany's top ten trading partners and buys $95 billion worth of German products a year, especially cars. Germany in turn buys $107 billion worth of Chinese goods, primarily electronic components.

(reuters, sie)