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Beijing and Berlin are 'closer than ever'

By Li Xiaokun and Qin Jize (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-06-29 07:42

BERLIN - Visiting Premier Wen Jiabao said on Tuesday that the unprecedented China-Germany inter-government consultations he took part in injected energy into the further development of bilateral ties, which could benefit both countries and the world at large.

Wen took 16 ministers with him on the visit to meet their German counterparts, including Zhang Ping, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, Commerce Minister Chen Deming and Governor of the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan.

"The large scale of the lineup, the wide range of topics up for discussion and the substantial achievements are all pioneering work in the history of Sino-German relations and Sino-EU relations," Wen said during a joint press briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"China has viewed Germany as an important strategic partner and such a strategic relationship will only be enhanced, rather than weakened, by such efforts," Wen said.

Merkel echoed his remarks, saying the consultation showed the level of contact and experience exchanged between the two governments.

She said ministers from the two countries agreed on issues, including the protection of consumers, agriculture, science and research and housing construction.

UK-based The Economist quoted Eberhard Sandschneider, director of the Research Institute of the German Council on Foreign Relations, as saying similar consultations helped Germany and France through stages of their relationship and noted "you have to meet on a regular basis, whether you like it or not".

Sandschneider also noted that China is an important partner in solving major global issues, such as the nuclear programs of Teheran and Pyongyang, the crisis in Sudan and climate change.

He said the EU's failure to act coherently on foreign policy made Germany, by default, China's most important European partner.

Mei Zhaorong, former Chinese ambassador to Germany, told China Daily that the unprecedented large-scale consultations were the focus of Wen's visit because the German leadership realized that China's development had brought great opportunities to the country.

He said relations between China and Germany hit a low point in September 2007 when Merkel met the Dalai Lama and it took almost two years for them to recover.

"Germany has encountered the bottom line of China's core interests and learned its lesson from those twists," Mei said.

He noted that German industries, including its automobile manufacturers, pinned high hopes on the Chinese market after the international financial crisis.

"They have the need to cooperate with China," said Mei.

Thomas Gackle, deputy director-general for raw material policy at Germany's Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, said it is evident that China is of great importance for Europe as a whole and Germany in particular.

"For us, China is a big, big market with a large population and is a country we expect is on a stable path to more prosperity that will certainly offer many opportunities for German companies," he said.

But Mei also noted that it is undeniable that the two sides are still in disagreement about some issues because of their different cultural traditions, economic and social systems, and development levels and the key is how to properly handle those differences.

Media commentators in Germany have spoken highly about the consultations. The website of the newspaper die Welt said Sino-German ties were raised to a new level and had never been so close.

And website badische-zeitung.de also interpreted the first government consultations between China and Germany as a symbol of closer relations for the two sides.

China has never held such a consultation with another country and that showed the importance China has attached to the event, reported the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Germany has held such government consultations with France, Israel, Russia, Poland and India.

Zhou Wa contributed to this story.