Scholz To Visit China 15-16 Apr-FAZ

(MNI) London - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reportsthat Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to visit China on 15-16 April, according to an invite set to business reps from the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business. Scholz's trip will mark his first to China since Nov 2022, when he met with President Xi Jinping in Beijing. During that visit Reuters reportsthat Scholz "pressed Xi to prevail on Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine, saying Beijing had a responsibility as a major power to do so."

• The announcement of Scholz's visit comes as he prepares to travel to Washington, D.C., from 8-9 Feb for talks with President Joe Biden at the White House. The focus of talks is likely to be on the security situation in the Middle East, and the war in Ukraine.
• Scholz's visit could come as part of an effort to repair business relations with China that have come under strain recently. Indeed, neither Finance Minister Christian Lindner nor Economy Minister Robert Habeck have yet visited China, with the former being disinvited at short notice in May 2023.
• In recent weeks a number of headlineshave appeared claiming that the German gov't is encouraging firms to 'de-risk' from China, while a survet seen by Reuters claimed that "The proportion of German firms exiting the Chinese market or considering doing so has more than doubled to 9% in the past four years"