The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schr÷der, has praised China's stand against terrorism following the September 11th attacks.
Speaking on the second day of an official visit to China, Mr Schr÷der told the Chinese President, Mr Jiang Zemin, that no matter who used terrorism they should be punished.
"They should all be punished and we should comprehensively strike against terrorist activities," he said, during a private meeting with the Chinese leader.
Mr Jiang repeated China's position that it was opposed to all forms of terrorism and supported action against terrorism under the principles of the UN charter.
However, the official newsagency, Xinhua, said the Chancellor did not directly mention the US-led assault on Afghanistan, for which Mr Schr÷der sought support during his stop-offs in Pakistan and India earlier this week.
Mr Schr÷der also avoided mentioning the attacks in a speech he delivered at Peking University earlier yesterday.
He said in his address that Germany had refused to supply engines for submarines, which the US offered to sell to Taiwan, which China regards as a rebel province.
He steered clear of other sensitive issues, such as China's call for international support for its campaign against ethnic Uighur Islamic separatists in its north-western region of Xinjiang.
The main focus of Mr Schr÷der's trip was clearly on business.
He kicked off his three-day visit by signing agreements worth a potential $4 billion between German and Chinese firms.
Yesterday, Chinese and German business leaders signed another 29 agreements, including at least $350 million worth of equipment sales by telecommunications gear maker Siemens, at a high-tech forum attended by Mr Schr÷der.
The deals are designed to help Germany position itself for access to China's potentially huge market after its entry to the World Trade Organisation expected this year.
China sees Germany as a key source of foreign investment and technology transfers, but also as an important political counterbalance to the US.
Mr Schr÷der left Beijing last night for a private dinner with the Chinese Premier in the north-eastern city of Dalian. This was seen as another sign of the increasingly warm relationship between Europe's largest economy and Asia's fastest growing economy .
Mr Schr÷der was due to fly to Shanghai today.
In the first seven months of this year, Germany's imports from China, its second biggest trading partner in Asia, rose 11.1 per cent year-on-year to DM21 billion, while exports to China jumped 40 per cent to DM13 billion.