This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/01/business/global/china-and-germany-promise-to-strengthen-ties.html

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
China and Germany Promise to Strengthen Ties Merkel’s China Trip Focuses on Economy, Not Rights
(about 11 hours later)
SHANGHAI — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany ended a two-day visit to China on Friday with a renewed call to strengthen ties between Germany and China and a new pledge from Beijing that it would continue to invest in Europe. SHANGHAI — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany headed home on Friday from a two-day visit to China with a stack of newly signed business contracts and a pledge for Beijing’s backing in the euro crisis, but few promises from Beijing to improve human rights.
Ms. Merkel visited China at the invitation of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao at a time when both countries are facing the prospect of slower growth and weakening demand for their exports. Ms. Merkel, seven members of her cabinet and several dozen representatives of Germany’s largest companies visited China at the invitation of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao as both countries faced the prospect of slower growth and weakening demand for their exports, pushing economic concerns to the forefront.
Traveling with a large delegation of German officials and business executives, the chancellor held talks in Beijing with President Hu Jintao and Mr. Wen, as well as the two men expected to succeed them early next year, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang. At the heart of Ms. Merkel’s concerns were winning support from Mr. Wen and the man expected to succeed him early next year, Li Keqiang, in buying up more European debt in an effort to ease the sovereign debt crisis, which has been crippling Europe for three years and causing uncertainty in global markets.
Neither side indicated any significant progress on political or economic issues, but Mr. Wen called for the European Union to take bolder steps to resolve its debt crisis. He also said China intended to invest more in European debt. Although members of the Chinese delegation made it clear they had little understanding of how long it took Europeans to draw up new agreements to fight the crisis and “did not hold back” during intense talks about the euro, according to dpa, a German news agency, Mr. Wen said his country intended to invest in more European debt.
Experts on China say Beijing is eager to have Europe welcome more Chinese investment in key areas, not just the debt market. The chancellor also met with President Hu Jintao and his expected successor, Xi Jinping, while in Beijing on Thursday, and posed for a photograph with Mr. Wen with the Forbidden City in the background.
Yet the chancellor’s efforts to underline what both sides have dubbed their “special relationship” came under fire from critics at home, who recall her previous willingness to risk Germany’s economic interest to highlight China’s poor record on human rights issues. In 2007, she invited the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, to the chancellery for talks, prompting an angry response from Beijing.
A summary of Ms. Merkel’s trip ran under the headline “The Domesticated Chancellor” in the online version of Der Spiegel on Friday, and the conservative newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung warned of the danger of believing that the two countries’ relationship could be defined by economic ties alone.
“No matter how dynamically the relation develops in terms of trade and investment,” said an editorial published in the paper on Thursday, “there can never be a ‘special relationship’ between the Communist People’s Republic and Germany, a democratic country in the heart of the European Union, at least not in the sense of the Anglo-American connection.”
One of the sharpest critics of the chancellor, however, was in Beijing. The artist provocateur Ai Weiwei, who has a strong following in Germany, began poking fun at Ms. Merkel and posting comments on the Internet to show his disappointment at not being invited to meet her for lunch. He even posted pictures of himself striding outside, wearing Chinese slippers and carrying a cardboard cutout of Ms. Merkel through his garden. He called it “Taking Merkel to Lunch.”
Human rights issues may have been largely ignored on this visit, but economic ties have flourished since the two countries began a program of annual governmental exchanges in 2010. On this trip, German executives signed contracts worth more than 4.8 billion euros, or $6 billion, including an order for Airbus, a French-German venture, for 50 jets worth more than $4.4 billion.
Still, disagreements over trade, transparency and access to China’s lucrative domestic market remain. Ms. Merkel said on Thursday that she favored negotiation in a trade dispute in which Germany’s largest producer of solar panels is accusing China of dumping low-cost panels in Europe.
During a visit to Mr. Wen’s home city, Tianjin, outside Beijing, she made it clear that Chinese companies needed to recognize that subsidies distorted competition and violated European law.
“My plea is that everyone be transparent, that they lay their cards on the table about how they produce,” the chancellor said, Reuters reported. Europe’s trade commissioner is expected to decide next week whether to take up the case.
At a meeting with German business leaders, Mr. Wen sought to assuage concerns that their subsidiaries based in China were not treated the same as domestic companies.
“Fair access to the markets through the access of our subsidiaries as Chinese companies is close to our hearts,” Peter Löscher, the chief executive of Siemens, told the prime minister, dpa reported.
Mr. Wen responded by inviting complaints and promising to address any concerns that reached him in writing.
Experts on China say Beijing is eager to have Europe welcome more Chinese investment in major areas, not just in the debt market.
“The significance of this visit lies primarily in the bilateral economic relations,” said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing and an adviser to the State Council, or cabinet. “There has been a lot of discussion over China providing financial assistance to Europe. But Germany cannot solely represent Europe, and Europe as an integrated entity still has some concern over receiving Chinese assistance.”“The significance of this visit lies primarily in the bilateral economic relations,” said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing and an adviser to the State Council, or cabinet. “There has been a lot of discussion over China providing financial assistance to Europe. But Germany cannot solely represent Europe, and Europe as an integrated entity still has some concern over receiving Chinese assistance.”
To soothe Chinese concerns, Ms. Merkel reassured Beijing about the stability of the euro, and China showed its hospitality by organizing big trade ceremonies to coincide with the visit.

David Barboza reported from Shanghai, and Melissa Eddy from Berlin.

On Wednesday, German and Chinese companies signed more than a dozen business contracts, including a deal in which a state-owned Chinese company agreed to purchase 50 Airbus aircraft worth about $3.5 billion.
The trip was not entirely favorable to German companies. Ms. Merkel refused to back Germany’s largest producer of solar panels in its efforts to initiate a trade dispute with China over the alleged dumping of low-cost panels in Europe.
The company, SolarWorld, filed a complaint against Chinese competitors in July with the European trade commissioner, but Ms. Merkel said in the past week that she favored negotiation over a trade case.
“We still have time for this, and it would be better if we could resolve it through discussion,” she said.
Mr. Wen seemed pleased with the comments, and said the principle should be applied in other areas, not just solar panels. “This is an important foundation of our cooperation,” he said, according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency.
Ms. Merkel also steered clear of human rights issues on the trip, at least publicly, which drew the ire of some human rights groups.
Ms. Merkel has faced such criticism before when visiting China. But it was highlighted in Beijing this week after the artist provocateur Ai Weiwei, who is popular in Germany, began poking fun at Ms. Merkel and posting comments online showing his disappointment at not being invited to meet her for lunch. He even uploaded photos onto the Web of himself striding outside, wearing Chinese slippers and carrying a cardboard cutout of Ms. Merkel. He called it “Taking Merkel to Lunch.”
If anything, the trip highlighted Ms. Merkel’s efforts to build closer diplomatic ties with China and to foster what the Chinese and Germans alike have dubbed “a special relationship.”
The Chinese news media noted repeatedly that it was Ms. Merkel’s sixth visit to China since taking office, and her second this year.
This time, with Mr. Wen preparing to leave office early next year, he arranged for Ms. Merkel to visit the Forbidden City in Beijing and to travel by high-speed train to his hometown, Tianjin, to visit an assembly plant managed by the European Aeronautic Defense & Space, the parent company of Airbus.
Xu Yan contributed research. Melissa Eddy contributed reporting from Berlin.