German chancellor to pay official visit to China this week

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will pay an official visit to China this week, Beijing announced on Monday.

Merz will pay a two-day visit beginning Wednesday at the invitation of Premier Li Qiang, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

He will be the third top Western leader to visit China this year.

In January, Canadian and British prime ministers visited China. The trips were the first in many years.

Merz met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference early this month.

He also spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping over the phone last May.

The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1972 and the ties were upgraded in 2014 to an “all-round strategic partnership.”

In 2024, China slid down to the second-largest global trading partner of Germany as the bilateral trade volume was $201.88 billion, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.