Tuesday's talks between the two governments is "a stress test on whether genuine partnership between Berlin and Beijing is still possible", Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute, told AFP.
"It's open as to whether Germany continues to play the game of pretending there is broad agreement with Beijing... or whether it chooses a new path of straight talk and limiting the final statement to areas where there is a genuine path forward for cooperation," he added.
Spiegel magazine said that "finding the right and appropriate way to deal with China is almost impossible".
China has been accused of stirring regional instability with threats against Taiwan and of rights abuses against Uyghurs, while refusing to distance itself from Russia's Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, it is "important to continue to have a relationship of trust" with Beijing, Spiegel noted.
"Managing this balancing act without suffering a hernia is a real challenge" not just at Tuesday's talks, but "in the years and decades to come", it said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, one of the most strident critics of Beijing's human rights policies, has signalled that the way to handle the delicate situation was to boost cooperation with China on areas on which both sides can agree, such as the climate.
But on economic issues, Scholz's government has repeatedly underlined that ending reliance is the key.
Speaking at a major German industry event on Monday, Scholz said the "G7 has no interest in preventing China's economic rise".
"At the same time, we are looking carefully at preventing dangerous economic reliance in the future."
Addressing the same event, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg noted that many had previously thought that buying gas from Russia was "a purely commercial decision, only to learn the hard way".
"We must not make the same mistake once again with other authoritarian regimes, not least China," he warned.
BERLIN: Germany's president on Monday (Jun 19) urged Beijing and Washington to boost dialogue, as he hosted Premier Li Qiang at a time when China's policies on Russia, trade and human rights are receiving an increasingly hostile reception in the West.
Li, who was named China's premier in March, is on a two-nation visit which will also take him to France for a climate financing summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed the importance of ties between China and the United States for "global security and cooperation", wrote his spokeswoman Cerstin Gammelin on Twitter.
"He called for the strengthening of communication channels between both countries," she added, after months of US-China tensions.
Steinmeier also urged Beijing to use its "political weight and influence on Russia to bring about a just peace" in Ukraine, said Gammelin.
Li's European tour came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on a high-stakes trip to Beijing, where a glimpse of optimism was seen with President Xi Jinping assessing that "some progress" was made.
In Berlin, Li and his Cabinet will meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his team for so-called government consultations on Tuesday, when he is expected to outline China's "hopes to deepen and expand its relations" with the European Union heavyweight.
The blueprint stridently accused China of acting against German interests, putting international security "under increasing pressure" and disregarding human rights.
At the same time, it underlined the necessity of getting Beijing's cooperation on global issues like fighting climate change.
Scholz himself had said that the message sent by the document is that "China's integration into world trade and world economic relations should not be impaired".
"But at the same time the security issues that arise for us must be taken into account."
Beijing has bristled at being described as a "partner, competitor and systemic rival" in the text, saying such labels would only "push our world towards a vortex of division and confrontation".
Thailand is set to host talks aimed at re-engaging Myanmar’s shunned military leaders in an initiative critics said undermined regional unity on the strife-torn country’s deadlocked crisis.
The outgoing Thai military-backed government, in a statement released on Sunday, said the purpose of its informal dialogue is to discuss a range of topics to complement the efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to resolve the situation in Myanmar.
It said the meeting will be attended by representatives from Laos, Cambodia, India, China, Brunei and Vietnam, as well as Myanmar – a highly contentious issue because ASEAN leaders had agreed to exclude the country’s generals from the 10-member bloc’s meetings.
Myanmar’s generals, who seized power in a 2021 coup after toppling the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, have failed to honour a deal agreed with ASEAN two months afterwards to end the violence and initiate talks with groups opposed to their power grab.
The Thai invitation to ASEAN foreign ministers, published on Twitter by Human Rights Watch, said the meeting would discuss a proposal for the regional bloc to “fully re-engage Myanmar at the leaders’ level”.
Myanmar’s military-appointed foreign minister, Than Swe, is due to join the talks, two sources with knowledge of the meeting told the Reuters news agency.
ASEAN unity
But some ASEAN members have declined to attend and others are sending only junior officials.
Indonesia, which as the current ASEAN chair has for months been trying to engage key stakeholders in Myanmar’s conflict in an effort to kick-start a peace process, declined Thailand’s invitation.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the latest meeting of the bloc had “arrived at no consensus to re-engage or develop new approaches to the Myanmar issue”, Reuters reported, citing Jakarta’s response to the Thai efforts.
A Malaysian government statement, meanwhile, said its foreign minister, Zambry Abdul Kadir, would not be able to attend “due to prior commitments”, but went on to emphasise that ASEAN’s peace plan “remained ASEAN’s valid reference and mandate in addressing the Myanmar issue”.
The Malaysian statement suggested the Thai effort undermined ASEAN unity.
“It is important that ASEAN demonstrates its unity in support of the ASEAN Chair and ASEAN processes which are in line with the mandate and decisions made by the ASEAN leaders,” it said.
Cambodia said Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, who last year served as an ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar, would be represented by his deputy.
Myanmar groups opposed to military rule blasted the meeting plans.
A statement signed by representatives of more than 300 civil society organisations called it “a complete affront to the people of Myanmar who have sacrificed their lives to resist the Myanmar military’s attempt to seize power through years-long terror campaign against the whole nation”.
It added, “In organizing this meeting, the caretaker Government of Thailand is acting without the mandate and any consultation with the ASEAN Chair. As a member state of ASEAN, Thailand must not deviate from the bloc’s agreement, and must halt this meeting at once.”
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai on Monday defended the meeting, saying it was aimed to give Myanmar an opportunity to provide an update on its situation.
Thailand did not organise it on behalf of ASEAN, and an open invitation was sent out to all nations that might be interested in hearing from Myanmar, he said.
“Thailand is the most affected if we let this prolong,” he told Thai television, noting that Myanmar’s crisis was sending refugees across their common border and had hit trade hard.
“We can say that Thailand is the only country in ASEAN that wants to see the problems end as soon as possible, which will be beneficial to us,” he added.
Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai gestures during a news conference on the US State Department’s annual human trafficking report at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok, Thailand, July 1, 2016 [File: Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters]
The Thai foreign ministry statement did not say where the meeting would be held, but the Bangkok Post newspaper cited Don as saying it would be held in the eastern resort city of Pattaya.
Some Thai critics also questioned why the meeting was suddenly called, even as the current caretaker government was likely to be replaced by August by opposition parties that won the May elections.
Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of the progressive Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in Parliament, has suggested that his government would take a tougher stance on Myanmar than the current administration of retired general Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Prayuth, who has been in power since he led a coup to seize power from an elected civilian government in 2014, has been criticised for his friendly position towards Myanmar’s military leaders.
