This was inked in Beijing on 29 October during a meeting between Chinese premier Li Keqiang and German chancellor Angela Merkel. China had already ordered 45 of the twin-aisle planes back in June.
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“At the end of the first day of her visit, Chancellor Merkel met members of Chinese civil society: human rights, lawyers, writers and bloggers”, her spokesperson Steffen Seibert tweeted.
China has signed a $17bn (€15.5bn; £11bn) contract to buy 130 aircraft from the European aerospace consortium Airbus.
China and Germany have witnessed all-around and rapid development of their relations in recent years, the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries has achieved fruitful results, Shi said.
Today, the German leader will go with Mr Li to his home province of Anhui, where she will visit a village and a school, echoing President Xi’s escorting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his ancestral province of Shaanxi when Mr Modi visited in May.
The chancellor parlayed ever-closer ties with one of Germany’s biggest trade partners to win the deal on the black-and-white animals, native to southern China.
Many agreed that her open doors offer had sent a strong signal to refugees from other countries – including Afghanistan – that Europe was open for business and that this had led to the mass movement of people risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean.
Li said China would like to learn from Germany’s industrial capabilities.
Merkel also said Germany wants to play a role in operating the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. This will help contribute towards further growth within the two markets and economies and more importantly it will also strengthen the relevance of Europe as a RMB offshore hub.
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Merkel and Horst Seehofer, the leader of her Bavarian sister party, have frequently clashed over how Germany should deal with the estimated 800,000 to 1 million it expects this year, many of them from war zones in the Middle East. However, German officials have, in the past, expressed fears over small and medium-sized German companies being targeted by China’s espionage activities. Also taking part in the talks are Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
