China, Germany vow to expand partnership

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) and his German counterpart Angela Merkel meet reporters at a joint press conference in Berlin, Germany, on June 1, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua/Zhang Duo]

China and Germany have vowed to expand their cooperative partnership and continue to fight against climate change.

Visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his German counterpart Angela Merkel made the comments at a joint press conference in Berlin.

The two leaders both said that as the world becomes more uncertain, they have a responsibility to expand their partnership in all the different areas.

Premier Li Keqiang said the relations between China and Germany will remain solid.

"The stable and adult character of our relationship is a sign that the world can be peaceful, we can support cooperation and together we can reach security. We are both ready to contribute to peace and stability in the world," said Premier Li.

To further enrich bilateral cooperation, the two countries agreed to speed up negotiations on an investment agreement between China and the European Union (EU).

Premier Li said the deal will benefit the two-way opening-up and equality between the Chinese and EU markets, while promoting trade liberalization and investment facilitation.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country attaches great importance to the investment treaty, and that its signing will be a good start of negotiations on an EU-China free trade agreement.

"One important issue was the development of our trade relations. We have agreed that trade nations like Germany and China should work together and also clearly acknowledge their commitment to free trade. We have clearly underlined this commitment again," said Merkel.

In terms of climate change issues, Premier Li said China will continue to work steadfastly to implement the Paris climate deal and cooperate with all parties to tackle climate change.

"There's a saying in China: 'Promises must be kept and actions must be resolute.' It is a worldwide call to deal with climate change. It is not something invented by China. Chinese scientists and theorists are moving forward based on international research results in this regard. However, we realized that since it is a global consensus, as a large developing country, we should bear our due international responsibility," said Premier Li.

He said China has actively participated in promoting the Paris Agreement, and will make more efforts to maintain the green, low-carbon and sustainable development course.

Merkel spoke highly of China's commitment to the climate change issue.

"I am very pleased that China is committed to the responsibilities of the climate protection treaty. The cooperation of the European Union with China in this area and especially with view to new technologies will play an important part also in the following meeting in Brussels," said Merkel.

The Paris Agreement, which went into effect last November, sets a target of holding the global average rise in temperature below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and preferably below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying also reiterated that China will continue to implement the deal, and positively take part in the multilateral process of global climate governance.

Meantime, Merkel also said that the EU needs to fulfill its obligations under Article 15 of the Protocol on China's Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and offer equal treatment to Chinese enterprises.

Li Keqiang praised Germany's support on this matter, urging the 28-nation bloc to abide by WTO rules when making new regulations targeting unfair trade practice.

According to Article 15, WTO members should have stopped using the surrogate country approach when conducting anti-dumping investigations involving China as of December of last year.

However, the EU's executive arm, the European Commission, scrapped the "non-market economy" list and replaced the approach with "market distortion" which is said to be another surrogate method.

Germany is the first leg of Premier Li's ongoing 3-day Europe tour, which also takes him to Belgium, where he'll co-chair the 19th China-EU leaders' meeting with other EU officials.