Li Qiang: China willing to expand cooperation with Germany in automotive, AI sectors

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said during a meeting with visiting German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that China is willing to expand cooperation with Germany in areas such as automotive, chemicals and artificial intelligence (AI), and that China is also willing to import more high-quality German products.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Li Qiang said on Friday (Oct 30) during a meeting with Steinmeier at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing that looking back on the development of China-Germany relations, an important experience is that both sides have adhered to mutual respect, seeking common ground while reserving differences, focusing on cooperation and pursuing mutual benefit and win-win results.

At a time when unilateralism and protectionism are running rampant, China and Germany should demonstrate more responsibility, firmly uphold free trade, promote open cooperation and push the two countries' all-round strategic partnership to constantly achieve new development.

Li Qiang also said that China is willing to make good use of dialogue mechanisms such as intergovernmental consultations with Germany, leverage their respective strengths, expand cooperation in areas such as automotive, chemicals, AI, digital and green development, and move toward a higher level of mutual benefit and win-win results.

The two sides should continue to share market opportunities.

China is willing to import more high-quality German products and welcomes German enterprises to actively explore the Chinese market.

China supports more Chinese enterprises in investing in Germany and hopes that Germany will provide a fair, stable and predictable business environment for enterprises.

Steinmeier arrived on Tuesday (27th) in Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, starting a five-day state visit to China.

This is the German president's first visit to China in nearly eight years.

After meeting with Li Qiang, Steinmeier also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Xi Jinping called on Germany to adhere to a pragmatic and friendly China policy and stressed that China-EU cooperation outweighs competition and consensus outweighs differences, highlighting Beijing's willingness to stabilize relations with Europe.

In a speech at Peking University on Thursday (29th), Steinmeier also said that Germany and Europe do not want to "decouple" from China, but while China pursues economic autonomy, it should not leave other countries in one-sided dependence or vulnerability.