Hopes high for improved Sino-German relations

Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, attend a news briefing after their talks on Monday. Feng Yongbin / China Daily

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Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday that he hopes China and Germany can push forward cooperation in manufacturing and emerging industries such as new energy when he met visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Beijing.

Li also said he is looking forward to visiting Germany later this year and meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Steinmeier told Li that the two countries have shared interests in many aspects and have a broad prospect for cooperation.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Wang Yi also held talks with Steinmeier.

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Wang told Steinmeier that China hopes Germany will seize the business opportunities brought by China's economic transition.

"China would like to learn advanced experience and technologies from foreign countries, including Germany. Countries that can seize the opportunity will take the initiative in cooperation with China," Wang told Steinmeier.

Steinmeier is on his first trip to China since taking office last year.

Steinmeier, who chose to visit Hebei province during the visit, said: "We would like to share our experience (with China) because we have also experienced a similar economic and social transition."

Hebei is home to many heavy industries such as steel, coal and glass, and is a major source of air pollution in northern China.

At the end of February, President Xi Jinping initiated a program to reduce pollution in the province by shutting down heavily polluting enterprises such as cement plants.

The German media saw it as a good chance for further China-Germany cooperation.

"In this process, China needs to cooperate with foreign countries, especially with Germany," German newspaper Die Welt said on its website.

Jia Xiudong, a senior researcher on international affairs at the China Institute of International Studies, said: "Germany has gathered abundant experience during the transition of former East Germany, so it can share its experience with China on how to develop a green economy with higher energy efficiency."