Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) held a video conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been in office for 16 years since 2005 and is about to retire, on the 13th. It is believed that Merkel highly appreciated the fact that Merkel visited China 12 times during her tenure and did not unilaterally sided with the United States in the US-China conflict. Chancellor Angela Merkel has clashed with the former US administration, Donald Trump, who has put pressure on US troops in Germany to increase their share of defense costs.
On the 14th, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, Renmin Ilbo, published a front page photo of Xi and Merkel smiling broadly during a videoconference the day before. Xi is notorious for rarely smiling in public, but he was exceptionally consistent throughout the day. The People’s Daily commented, “During Merkel’s tenure, the relationship between China and Germany, as well as between China and the European Union (EU), became very strong.” In particular, President Xi said, “Chinese people value justice and righteousness, and do not forget Lao Fengyu. The gates of China are always wide open to you,” he added.
On the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, President Xi said at this meeting that “the most important thing is for people to know each other, and to know each other, you need to know the mind of the other person.” He said he quoted a passage from Mencius. He also congratulated Merkel for proving that China and Germany could avoid a ‘zero-sum’ game and benefit from each other during Merkel’s tenure. The Global Times, a state-run English newspaper, also praised Merkel for visiting China the most among the leaders of major countries and for implementing a pragmatic China policy. Merkel, who took office in November 2005, visited China 12 times until September 2019, before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). During the same period, President Xi visited Germany three times. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the two continued contact by phone and videoconference. In particular, we exchanged five times this year alone.
Beijing = Correspondent Ki-yong Kim kky@donga.com
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