GERMANY-Scholz: 'We Don't Want To Decouple From China'

(MNI) London - Wires carrying comments from the meeting between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing. Scholz's multi-day visit to China has garnered significant focus given Germany's position as China's largest EU trading partner. The trip comes at a time when the US and EU are encouraging a policy of 'de-risking' from China by winding down supply chain links to China. However, Scholz has travelled to China with a number of CEOs from large German firms, indicating an intention to seek greater investment and closer economic relations with Beijing.

• Scholz: "We don't want to decouple from China...Cultivating economic relations also means improving the quality of cooperation...We would also like to make progress on structural challenges...Would like to thank china for its good cooperation in resolving individual cases, most recently it was BMW."
• Chinese state media says Li and Scholz had a 'candid, constructive' exchange on issues, expectations of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
• Li: 'We agreed the economic interests of China and Germany are deeply intertwined...China and Germany should further bring close economic and trade cooperation to maximise mutual benefits and win-win results.'
• Scholz met with President Xi Jinping earlier on 16 April. During the meeting, Xi talked up vigilance against "rising protectionism", adding "We must view and develop bilateral relations in an all-round way from a long-term and strategic perspective,"