CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/GERMANY: “German Chancellor Angela Merkel and China’s President Xi Jinping pledged to boost economic cooperation between their countries as they met ahead of what is expected to be an unusually tense international summit on Friday [7-7-17].
‘We are very happy to see that thanks to efforts from both sides, Chinese-German relations have entered a new phase,’ Mr. Xi said Wednesday, according to a German translation of his remarks.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policies, his threats to crack down on abuse of free trade, and his withdrawal from the Paris climate change accord have brought Germany and China, two of the world’s largest exporters and both defenders of the climate agreement, closer together.
This new closeness is expected to feature prominently later this week when Ms. Merkel chairs this year’s G-20 summit of the world’s largest economies, which will force her into a delicate balancing act between her commitment to the Western alliance and her professed aversion to Mr. Trump’s international agenda.”
-Andrea Thomas, “Germany Bolsters China Ties as Trump Policies Raise Concern,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 5, 2017 10:13am