Europe | Not-so-bullish Germany in the China shop

The German chancellor’s awkward meeting with China’s boss

It is time for Xi Jinping to accept that Germany isn’t America’s puppet

 Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is received by Xi Jinping, President of China
Photograph: dpa
|BERLIN

An official Chinese read-out said the summit meeting in Beijing that ended on April 16th reflected the strong ties that bind the world’s second- and third-largest economies. A morning of talks with Xi Jinping, China’s president, punctuated by a comradely stroll in the garden and ending in a cordial lunch, seemed to have marked a friendly climax to the three-day visit to China by Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor.

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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “An awkward meeting ”

From the April 20th 2024 edition

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