German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in China on Feb. 25 and met Prime Minister Li Qiang and President Xi Jinping. Before leaving Germany, he declared that “de-risking” has not disappeared but “decoupling” is never going to happen. He also said that Germany will continue sticking to the “One China” policy. This is important because his Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul had irritated Beijing last August with remarks on Taiwan, so much that he had to cancel his planned visit to China.
The economic daily Handelsblatt had just complained about the absence of big deals in this trip, that Merz, after the meeting with Xi, announced that China will buy 120 Airbus planes.
“We have just received news that the Chinese leadership will be ordering a large number of additional aircraft from Airbus,” Merz said. “There will be a total of up to 120 additional aircraft ordered from Airbus.” There are also opportunities for contracts for a number of other German companies, but these have not yet been finalized, he said.
