Chancellor Invites Chinese Premier To Visit 20 June-BBG

Bloomberg reporting that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has invited Chinese Premier Li Qiang for talks in Berlin on 20 June. Report states that "Scholz will aim to enlist Beijing as a key partner on challenges like peace and climate change while setting out red lines to any changes to the status quo in Taiwan, according to people familiar with the plans."

• At the end of last month's EUCO summit Scholz stated, on EU-China relations “We are against de-coupling, we are in favor of de-risking [...] Companies all over the world are trying to draw the right conclusions from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine: that they need to secure their supply chains, sales markets and direct investments so they can survive difficult moments. That’s taking place now and I think will define the next decade or two.”
• There remainslittle sign of agreement within the German governing coalition, let alone the EU, on what sort of stance should be taken towards China. This could be a more US-aligned heavy re-risking, or a more 'strategically autonomous' route that sees the EU maintain relatively strong trade links with China but could see the US less inclined to support European security going forwards.