German Chancellor Olaf Scholz leaves today for an 11-hour inaugural visit to Beijing. There, he will meet President Xi Jinping tomorrow – as the first Western head of government since his re-election as party leader.
Shortly before his departure, the SPD politician announced in the “” a change of course towards China, citing the results of the country’s Communist Party conference two weeks ago. “The China of today is not the same as it was five or ten years ago,” Scholz wrote. “It’s clear: if China changes, the way we deal with China must also change.”
Scholz also wants to address human rights issues during his inaugural visit. The visit will be shorter than any other chancellor’s trip to the world’s most populous country. Scholz will be joined by a business delegation that will include about a dozen managers, including the CEOs of Volkswagen, BASF and Deutsche Bank.