The theme of the trip will be “competition,” Hille told reporters in Berlin, and “the right balance of cooperation” with the Asian power will be one major theme. “We want cooperation where it is necessary and in our mutual interest,” he added.
Germany has tried in recent years to maintain solid ties with China despite wariness over Beijing’s growing assertiveness and refusal to criticize the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while also seeking to avoid overreliance on trade with China and diversifying its commercial links and supplies of key goods.
