She said her country is ready to join efforts with the Chinese side to exert the leading role of the inter-governmental consultations and other bilateral mechanisms to guide the two-way cooperation, in a bid for the Germany-China relationship to achieve fresh progress in the new era.

Merkel said Germany maintains that the EU-China disputes over solar panels and other issues should be solved via dialogue and negotiation, and that the EU's permanent import duties imposed on related products would be unhelpful and should be avoided with relevant measures.

She also called for related parties to conduct in-depth exchange of views with the principle of seeking common ground while reserving differences so as to dissolve misunderstandings and quickly solve the disputes.

At the press conference, Li also had a Q&A session with reporters on China-Germany ties, China-Europe relations as well as global and regional hotspot issues.