Overview
- Lars Klingbeil, serving as vice-chancellor and finance minister, is traveling to Beijing for the regular German–Chinese finance dialogue as the coalition’s first high-level envoy.
- Klingbeil says Germany must talk with China directly and promises a candid approach, stressing that Berlin will not ignore core disagreements.
- He plans to raise Taiwan, warning that any military action would fundamentally change how Germany views China.
- On economic issues, he will press concerns over rare-earths export curbs and broader supply-chain dependencies that German industry faces.
- He will urge Beijing to increase pressure on Russia over the war in Ukraine, even as critics at home question SPD-led party contacts with the CPC and warn of mixed signals within the coalition.