Chinese President Xi Jinping, in talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Beijing on Tuesday, emphasized the "huge potential for win-win cooperation" between the world's second- and third-largest economies and urged vigilance against rising protectionism, China's state-run media said.
The Chinese leader stressed the need to view the issue of production capacity "objectively and dialectically from a market-oriented and global perspective," the official Xinhua News Agency said, referring to Western nations' concerns over Beijing's overproduction of items, including electric vehicles.
Xi claimed China's exports of EVs, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products have enriched global supply and contributed greatly to the global response to climate change and low-carbon transformation, the news agency said.
Noting that the supply chains of China and Germany are "deeply intertwined" and their markets are "highly interdependent," Xi sought cooperation not only in traditional areas, such as automobiles, but also in emerging sectors, including green transformation and digital artificial intelligence, Xinhua added.
The mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation is not a "risk" but a guarantee for the stability of their relations and an opportunity for the future, Xi was quoted as saying.
Some European countries and the United States have raised concerns over the Chinese government's support of its electric vehicle and other green industries, alleging that it has led to reduced product prices. The European Union is probing Beijing's subsidies for EVs exported to the region, potentially leading to countervailing tariffs.
Scholz expressed opposition to protectionism and his country's willingness to promote sound EU-China ties as an important member of the regional bloc, China Central Television said.
The German leader called for closer cooperation with China on climate protection, saying Beijing and Berlin "have a responsibility to protect global public goods." He also advocated a rules-based trading system, according to German news agency dpa.
On a three-day visit to China through Tuesday with a business delegation, the chancellor stopped in Chongqing and Shanghai before traveling to the capital. He last visited the Asian country in November 2022.
