German Chancellor Olaf Scholz heads to China on Saturday for a three-day trip in which he is set to meet President Xi Jinping after stopping in Chongqing and Shanghai.
He is due to reach Beijing on Tuesday for political talks that are expected to cover Russia’s war on Ukraine, tensions with Taiwan and also trade.
Western countries have tried to isolate Moscow in light of Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbour but Beijing is the Kremlin’s most important ally, although remaining outwardly neutral. China’s leadership has not condemned the Russian war and instead blames the West for the conflict.
Relations between China and Taiwan are fraught, meanwhile, with Beijing viewing the self-ruled democracy part of its territory, although Taiwan has had an independent government since 1949.
China is Germany’s most important trading partner and around a dozen managers of leading German firms are to join Scholz. He is also bringing Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir, Transport Minister Volker Wissing and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke in his delegation.
It is Scholz’s second trip to China since he took office in late 2021, but he only spent a day there in November 2022 due to the pandemic. This three-day trip is longer than any other visit he has made to any single country on one trip as chancellor.
He is first due to stop in Chongqing, the world’s largest city, home to some 32 million people, located on the Yangtze River. There, and then in Shanghai, Scholz is to visit German companies and also address students.