This visit lasts a few hours and is the first for a leader of the European Union and the Group of Seven since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
Schulz pledged, on Wednesday, not to ignore controversial issues during his visit to China.
“We seek cooperation, which is in the interests of both sides,” he wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper ahead of the visit.
Schulz listed a series of “difficult topics” he would present, including respect for civil liberties and the rights of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and free and fair international trade.
But the leader of Europe’s biggest economic power has faced criticism over the visit, with even members of his government coalition expressing concern about Germany’s heavy dependence on increasingly authoritarian Beijing.
These fears were exacerbated after Germany found itself in a difficult situation due to its dependence on Russian gas imports, as it suffered an energy crisis after Moscow cut supplies due to the high level of tension due to the Ukraine war.
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