China-Germany ties at a glance
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-09-06 09:04
Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative
The city of Duisburg is regarded as China's gateway to Europe. Every week, about 30 freight trains from China arrive at Duisburg's inland port, delivering clothes, toys and hi-tech electronics from Wuhan, Chongqing and other major manufacturing centers in China. Cars, wine, whisky, luxury clothing and other European goods make the return journey.
German cities such as Duisburg and Hamburg have benefited a lot from the Belt and Road Initiative, and their stories have spurred the enthusiasm of all levels of government, economic circles and especially small enterprises in Germany to join the BRI.
China will actively promote Sino-German cooperation in third-party markets along the BRI routes and combine the complementary advantages of the two countries with local development needs in a bid to benefit each other, Chinese Ambassador to Germany Wu Ken has said.
Cultural and people-to-people exchanges
The China-Germany high-level people-to-people exchange dialogue mechanism was officially launched in May 2017. The mechanism is to deepen cooperation in education, science, technology, culture, youth, political parties, think tanks, media, and promote personnel exchanges between both countries and cooperation in tourism.
Panda diplomacy
The six-year-old giant panda Meng Meng, sent by China to Germany in 2017 together with male panda Jiao Qing, gave birth to twin panda cubs, the first-ever panda cubs born in Germany on Sunday Beijing time.
President Xi Jinping opened Berlin Zoo's Panda Garden with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his state visit to Germany in 2017.
Meng Meng and Jiao Qing were presented to Germany as part of a 15-year conservation and breeding program.