Chancellor Friedrich Merz laid out his complaints in a frank message to his hosts on a trip to Beijing that China had designed to showcase their relationship.

The German chancellor is trying to set a new tone with Beijing to parry pressure from the U.S. But years of deep economic ties make that difficult.

China is willing to work with Germany to give full play to dialogue mechanisms including government consultations, strengthen alignment of development strategies and policy communication, and expand and improve trade ties between the two nations, Li said when holding talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Beijing.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s trip will test his ability to address tensions between the countries, at a time of strain between Europe and Washington.

A lot is at stake as Germany is in search of global partners after the US has relinquished much of its longstanding role.There is no shortage of gloomy assessments of the global situation at the moment.

Mr Merz will head to Beijing (as well as Hangzhou, a tech hotspot) acknowledging that China has taken its place among the world’s great powers. But his visit will be shaped by the darkening mood at home.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has told China's Premier that Berlin wants to deepen economic exchanges, but that cooperation must be fair. Merz met with Li Qiang on the opening day of his first visit to China as Chancellor.

Germany is already harnessing AI for smarter production — with virtual factories, robot fleets and its newly launched Industrial AI Cloud. Can this edge overcome stagnation and let the country truly take on its rivals?