A: On June 28, Federal Minister Katherina Reiche made a special trip from Germany to Brussels to meet with Minister Wang Wentao. The two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on China-Germany economic and trade relations. They agreed that, against the current turbulent international landscape, China and Germany should strengthen dialogue and communication, deepen practical cooperation, and develop bilateral economic and trade relations in accordance with eight basic principles, including mutual benefit, fairness and openness, and stability and reliability.

On mutual benefit, China and Germany have close industrial ties, deeply integrated interests, and broad space for cooperation. China, with its supersized market, stands ready to further expand imports from Germany and welcomes German investment in China. The two sides will leverage their complementarity to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, tap cooperation potential in emerging areas, and support enterprises of both countries to succeed and achieve shared development.

On fairness and openness, both China and Germany are major manufacturing, trading, and exporting countries, and both have benefited from economic globalization. In the face of rising unilateralism and protectionism, the two sides should firmly support free trade, expand two-way market access, promote innovation through orderly competition, and create a fair, open, and non-discriminatory business environment for business cooperation.

On stability and reliability, uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing in the world today, and certainty has become the most scarce resource for businesses. China and Germany should strive to become reliable and predictable partners for each other, resolve differences and frictions through dialogue and consultation, jointly keep global industrial and supply chains stable and smooth, and provide greater certainty for business cooperation.

To this end, the two sides agreed to restart the China-Germany Joint Economic Committee, and to innovate cooperation mechanisms by setting up two working groups on trade and investment and on industrial cooperation. Following an approach oriented towards problem-solving and results, they will conduct policy communication and government-to-business dialogue on economic and trade issues. The teams of the two sides are currently accelerating all areas of work, so that the two ministers will co-chair the next meeting of the mechanism in early 2027 to accumulate economic and trade outcomes for the next stage of high-level exchanges between China and Germany, promote the development of a stable, balanced, and sustainable China‑Germany economic and trade relationship, and contribute to the steady and sound development of China‑EU economic and trade relations.