Chinese premier meets with German Social Democratic Party delegation

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with a delegation of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), led by Lars Klingbeil, the head of the SPD, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday met with a German Social Democratic Party (SPD) delegation led by Lars Klingbeil, chairman of the SPD.

Li said that as an important part of China-Germany relations, inter-party exchanges are of far-reaching significance for the two sides as they strengthen mutual learning and jointly promote prosperity and development.

China attaches great importance to its relations and cooperation with Germany, and it is important for the two major, influential countries to stay true to their original aspiration of cooperation and strengthen dialogue and coordination to bring more stability and certainty into the world, Li said.

He said the Communist Party of China (CPC) is ready to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the SPD to push the China-Germany all-round strategic partnership to a new level.

He said the CPC stands ready to work with the SPD to protect bilateral economic and trade cooperation, which is an important foundation for bilateral relations, and better safeguard the overall interests of bilateral cooperation and the interests of the two peoples.

China welcomes more German companies to come to China, and China will continue to expand market access, strengthen intellectual property rights protection, and foster a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment, Li said.

"China is ready to work with Germany to maintain the stability of industrial and supply chains, and hopes that the SPD will exert its influence in Germany and in Europe, maintain the general tone of its China policy featuring rationality, dialogue and cooperation, and promote the steady and sound development of China-Germany and China-EU relations," he said.

Klingbeil said Germany is actively preparing for the seventh round of inter-governmental consultations between the two countries, and expects fruitful results.

The SPD, which established relations with the CPC nearly 40 years ago, has been committed to maintaining dialogue with China and actively promoting the development of Germany-China relations, Klingbeil said, adding that Germany appreciates China's continued opening-up and believes that a "decoupling" is not an option in Germany-China relations.

The SPD is willing to strengthen strategic dialogue and communication with the CPC, expand Germany-China economic and trade cooperation, and make efforts toward the sustained and stable development of Germany-China relations and EU-China relations, Klingbeil said.