Secret to successful China-Germany ties lies at the top (2)

In the joint statement issued after the second round of consultations, the two sides pointed out that top-level contacts and intergovernmental consultations play a guiding role in the development of bilateral ties and will be held regularly in the future.

Besides the intergovernmental consultations, the third round of which will be held in Germany next year, there are more than 40 dialogue and consultation mechanisms at different levels between China and Germany, noted the ambassador.

These various platforms, he added, cover foreign policy, trade and investment, science and technology, education and culture, and international affairs, among others.

During Li's visit, the two sides are expected to discuss new cooperation priorities in such fields as manufacturing, information technology, urbanization and agriculture.

The ever-improving mechanisms, said Shi, are conducive to strengthening bilateral communication and coordination, enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation and promoting the China-Germany strategic partnership.

High-level consultations help lift political ties and lower the risk of tense disputes, said Cora Jungbluth, a project manager at Bertelsmann Foundation, noting that there are no such high-level consultation mechanisms between China and other Western countries.

"If I exclude our eurozone countries, to my knowledge, our chancellor only visited one country twice last year, that was China," said Friedolin Strack, managing director of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business.

"When there are tensions in the political and economic spheres, they can easily be removed if there is trust between the leaders, and we are glad that the intergovernmental consultation mechanism is being used as the tool to build the trust," Strack said.

The close working relations between Chinese and German leaders were also seen in March when Merkel congratulated Li over phone shortly after he became premier.

Germany will be the last leg of Li's ongoing first overseas tour as premier, which also includes India, Pakistan and Switzerland.