BEIJING / BERLIN (Reuters) President Xi Jinping told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday that he saw “several challenges” in relations between China and the European Union and hoped that the EU could “independently” make the right judgments, said a statement from the Chinese government.
The statement quoted Xi during a telephone conversation as saying that the EU and China should respect each other and ‘eliminate interference’, adding that China is willing to work with the global community to ensure ‘fair and reasonable distribution’ of COVID-19. promote vaccines and oppose vaccination nationalism.
Last month, the EU imposed its first major sanctions on Chinese officials since 1989 for alleged human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang region. Beijing, which has denied the allegations, is being hit back by blacklisting some EU lawmakers and entities.
The United States, Britain and Canada have also imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over Xinjiang, and the feud threatens to derail an EU-China investment pact agreed in late 2020 after years of negotiations.
German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said Merkel and Xi had discussed international efforts to produce and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, deepen economic cooperation and take steps to protect the climate and biodiversity.
She said the leaders agreed to deepen bilateral ties in the Sino-German government talks scheduled for the end of April.
“The Chancellor stressed the importance of a dialogue on all ties, including issues on which there are different opinions,” said Demmer, without providing details on the areas where Germany and China differ.
Report by the editors of Beijing and Michael Nienaber in Berlin; written by Tom Daly; Edited by Andrew Heavens, Steve Orlofsky, and Timothy Heritage