Navigating the Germany-China Relationship in a Changing World.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faces a tricky balancing act in maintaining good ties with Germany's largest trade partner, China, while complying with a G7 pledge to "de-risk" from Beijing. The Chinese premier Li Qiang is visiting Germany for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the talks come amid concerns in the West about rising Communist party control over society and the economy, unfair competition, and Beijing's territorial ambitions. Scholz's government is divided between the more hawkish junior coalition partners, the Greens and Free Democrats, and his center-left Social Democrats. The Chinese delegation is expected to lobby the German government directly and indirectly via big business to press the European Union not to go too far in regulating business in China.