Merz’s China tightrope: warm words, but hard questions for Beijing

South China Morning Post · Feb 26, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz travelled to Beijing with a delicate brief: vouch for a shrinking slice of big German firms still bullish on China, while defending the growing number being squeezed.On day one of his first official visit, Merz trod the line carefully – voicing openness to resetting beleaguered bilateral ties, even while gently nudging his hosts on bugbears including subsidies, currency devaluation and Russia.A day of meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, President Xi Jinping and a business round table yielded a rare joint statement, a flurry of minor deals and – according to Merz – the promise of a large-scale purchase of Airbus planes, with more juicy contracts to come.The conservative leader said unequivocally that Germany was open to Chinese investment, talked up hi-tech cooperation and made clear that trade barriers would be his last resort.11:33Balancing trade and economic rivalry: the future of Sino-German relationsBalancing trade and economic rivalry: the future of Sino-German relations“Because of the sharp increase in Chinese imports, calls for protection are growing louder in Europe. I want to be frank with you, and I already told you this in our conversation earlier: I want as little protection and safeguarding as possible,” Merz said in comments directed at Li at a business event.