The fourth G7 leader to visit China since December, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's visit comes at a moment when the gravitational pull of geopolitics threatens to drag economics into rival camps. Yet the very composition of Merz's delegation, about 30 senior executives from companies forming Germany's industrial backbone, sends a different signal: that supply chains, innovation ecosystems and climate imperatives are not obedient to ideological fault lines.

President Xi Jinping put forward three suggestions for the further development of China-Germany relations in his meeting with Merz on Wednesday. Namely, the two countries should be reliable partners that support each other, be innovative partners featuring openness and mutual benefit, and be cultural partners built on mutual understanding and friendship.

The comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries has long been defined by actions and results. Fifty-three years after diplomatic ties were established, bilateral trade reached 251.8 billion euros ($297 billion) last year. China has been the largest trading partner of Germany since 2016 except 2024. This is what win-win cooperation looks like in practice — factories humming in Shanghai and Stuttgart, research labs exchanging talent and green technologies codeveloped across sectors.

Merz's itinerary tells a story of industrial evolution. Former German chancellor Angela Merkel's dozen visits to China from 2006 to 2019 often revolved around German auto plants and machinery ventures — symbols of China as the world's workshop. Her successor Olaf Scholz, visiting in 2022 and 2024, highlighted a new-energy joint venture, reflecting China's pivot to the green economy. Now Merz is traveling to Hangzhou to tour Unitree Robotics. In two decades, the arc of German chancellors' visits traces China's shift from assembly lines to algorithms — a transformation that presents Germany not with a threat, but with a partner in the new industrial revolution.

This evolution explains why any "decoupling" rhetoric rings hollow on factory floors. Cooperation in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, new energy and advanced manufacturing aligns with Germany's Industry 4.0 ambitions and China's innovation-driven development strategy during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period. The two economies complement each other well — one strong in precision engineering and industrial systems, the other in scale, digital ecosystems and rapid commercialization.

To that end, it is hoped that Germany will provide a fairer and more equitable business environment for Chinese companies, ensuring that investment reviews, procurement policies and regulatory frameworks remain predictable and nondiscriminatory.

Differences do exist, but they need not become barriers to cooperation. The two countries' relationship is not defined by the absence of disagreements but by the ability to manage them. Dialogue and consultation remain the rational means for properly settling differences. It should be pointed out that China's support for an early peaceful resolution to the Ukraine crisis and the establishment of a lasting, balanced and pragmatic security framework for Europe is aligned with Germany's and Europe's interests.

China and Germany, as well as the European Union, share broad common interests in consolidating political mutual trust, enhancing the resilience of the bilateral relationship, and continuously gathering momentum for their cooperation. Experience has proved that partnership is the correct positioning for China-Germany and China-EU relations, and a stable, predictable policy environment is indispensable to safeguard the smooth advancement of such cooperation. As the EU's largest economy, Germany is uniquely positioned to encourage the EU to reciprocate China's efforts to steady ties.

Stable China-Germany and China-EU relations also accord with global expectations for stability and sustainable development. A rational, objective view of China is not only essential but imperative to that end. The EU should refrain from succumbing to the misleading rhetoric of those who seek to mislead it into framing China as a "systemic rival" — all to serve their own narrow interests.

Merz's journey to Beijing and Hangzhou can be conducive to relations developing on the right track. His visit should by no means be a makeshift tactic for Berlin to counter Washington's economic coercion, trade bullying and territorial intimidation; instead, it ought to serve as an overture to a sincere, level-headed policy recalibration — rooted in the clear recognition that upholding strategic autonomy is inherently in Germany's interests. In an age of fragmentation, characterized by a yearning for common development, the most pragmatic choice is cooperation — practical and mutually beneficial.