So many allegations are being leveled against China and so many rumors doing the rounds that Premier Wen Jiabao has had to deny that the investment environment in the country is worsening. During a meeting with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Xi'an, capital of Shanxi province, on July 17, he said foreign investment would not pour into a country where the investment environment was deteriorating.

Had the investment environment in China been worsening would David McAllister, state premier of Lower Saxony in Germany, headed a large delegation to China five days after taking office? Or, would 25 prominent German industrialists and a host of parliament members accompanied Merkel and half of her Cabinet ministers on their four-day visit to China from July 15?

The fact that they did so shows the importance German business and political leaders attach to China. Such has been the rise in the volume of Sino-German trade that it exceeded China's combined trade with Britain and France last year. Thanks to the booming Chinese auto market, which became the world's second largest last year, the German auto industry now expects to emerge from the global economic crisis faster than it had thought earlier.