Welt Online

During her visit to China, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will court Chinese trust in Europe. She will also seek deeper Sino-Germen cooperation, especially in economics.

Merkel wants to persuade China that investment in Germany and Europe is still safe, despite the debt crisis in the eurozone. She will explain to China the efforts they have made to combat the crisis and ask for more patience for the measures.

Germany wants China to use its clout at the International Monetary Fund to help solve the crisis. The IMF has contributed money to bailout Portugal, Ireland and Greece. Beijing's help in bringing the crisis to an end includes Chinese investors possibly buying up government bonds of eurozone nations at the center of the crisis.

During the China-Germany inter-governmental consultation, Wen Jiabao expects Merkel to update him on the eurozone crisis. In return, Merkel will attempt to convince China that the EU's crisis management has functioned well.

There is a nearly perfect symbiose between the Chinese and German economies. As a country with a modern industrial foundation, Germany is a good example for China. For Germany, China offers enormous opportunities.

It is clear in Berlin that there is a special relationship between China and Germany. It is obvious that Germany attaches great importance to China.

German officials see Thursday's "government consultations" - which involve more members of the ruling elites than the strategic and economic dialogue that China holds with the US - as an expression of a relationship which they say Beijing has with no other EU player, including the European Commission.

The eurozone crisis, and the shockwaves it has sent across the global economy, has increased the need for communication between the two countries.

In its latest report on China, the International Monetary Fund warned the crisis was the biggest external risk facing the fast-growing economy.

And after initially proving resilient to the crisis, forward-looking indicators suggest Germany, Europe's top economy, is beginning to feel the pain as well.

(China Daily 08/31/2012 page11)