Schultz strengthens ties with China during party leader Xi’s lightning visit | Abroad

For his part, Xi said, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, that the German visit “we hope will increase mutual understanding and trust and deepen cooperation in various fields.”

Schulz’s visit to Xi is a special one, because the German is the first leader of the G7 countries to visit the Chinese president since the beginning of the Corona pandemic. Due to strict Chinese Corona measures, Scholz will only stay in China for 11 hours.

The German chancellor is also the first head of government to visit Xi since he was re-elected as party leader two weeks ago. In addition to the advisor, dozens of senior executives from Volkswagen, BMW and Deutsche Bank, among others, are participating in the short visit.

Prior to his trip, Schultz announced a change of course toward China. He noted that the Germans’ important trading partner was more focused on national unity and strengthening the communist regime. “China today is not what it was five or ten years ago,” Schulz recently told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. “Obviously, as China changes, so should the way we interact with China.”

The German prime minister promised to discuss human rights in the country and the suppression of minorities such as the Uyghurs during his meeting with Xi. He also hopes that Beijing will put pressure on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.