Xi Jinping has told Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz that China opposes the use of nuclear weapons in Europe, in an apparent warning to Russia against creating a “crisis on the Eurasian continent”. The Chinese leader said Germany and the European Union had an important role to play in facilitating peace talks to end the war in Ukraine.
Mr Scholz, who was the first European leader to visit China since 2019, urged Mr Xi to use his influence to persuade Vladimir Putin to end the war.
“President Xi and I agree: nuclear threats are irresponsible and extremely dangerous. With the use of nuclear weapons, Russia would cross a line drawn collectively by the international community,” he told reporters after their meeting.
“I told President Xi that it is important for China to exercise its influence over Russia.”
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Mr Scholz was accompanied by a group of German business leaders and the entire delegation, including the chancellor, were tested for Covid on arrival and could not meet their Chinese hosts until the results returned negative. The delegation included the chief executive of vaccine manufacturer BionTech and Mr Scholz said China had agreed to allow the vaccine to be imported for administration to expatriates living in the country.
“That can only be a first step of course,” Mr Scholz said. “I hope that the group of entitled persons can soon be expanded to the point where the product is freely available.”
China’s zero-Covid policy has hurt its economy and made it more isolated from western countries but it is not expected to change until the country’s mass vaccination programme is stepped up. Both leaders called for greater co-operation between Europe and China on Covid, as well as on global issues such as climate change.
[ Denis Staunton: Scholz meets Xi: Ukraine, Taiwan and human rights on agendaOpens in new window ]
Mr Scholz said he had spoken to Mr Xi about China’s treatment of its Uyghur minority in Xinjian, adding that raising human rights concerns did not amount to interference in Beijing’s internal affairs. The chancellor reaffirmed Germany’s support for the One China policy but he also made it clear that “any change in Taiwan’s status quo must be peaceful or by mutual agreement”.
Mr Xi told the five-yearly congress of the Chinese Communist Party last month that Beijing wanted to pursue reunification with Taiwan by peaceful means but that he would never rule out the use of force to achieve the objective. Mr Scholz, who faced domestic criticism for visiting China so soon after Mr Xi was confirmed for a third term as the country’s leader, defended his decision to come to Beijing.
“We can now talk concretely and directly with each other to respond to the challenges the world is facing and the bilateral relations between Europe and China,” he said.
Mr Xi said that the complexity and volatility of the international situation meant that China and Germany should work more closely together. “Destroying political trust is easy, but rebuilding it is difficult, so it requires both sides to take care of it,” he told Mr Scholz, according to the Xinhua news agency.
