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Germany's foreign minister: Parts of China trip 'more than shocking'

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German Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock described her recent visit to China on Wednesday as "more than shocking". She said Beijing is increasingly becoming a rival system rather than a trading partner or competitor.

Baerbock made the remarks after her visit to Beijing, where she warned of any attempts by China to control Taiwan.

Beijing has always claimed that Taiwan is a Chinese province, governed democratically. It also never ruled out using force to take the island under control.

Baerbock also stated that China wants to follow its rules instead of the international order based on rules. Beijing, in turn, asked Germany to back Taiwan'reunification' and said China-Germany were not enemies but partners.

Baerbock told the German Bundestag on Wednesday that "some of what she saw was more than shocking".

She didn't elaborate, but her comment came after she had said that China was becoming aggressive and repressive both internally and externally.

She said that for Germany, China is both a competitor and a systemic rival. However, her impression now is "that systemic rivals is increasing".

Baerbock said that China was Germany's biggest trading partner. However, this does not mean Beijing is also Germany's top trading partner.

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She said that while the German government is willing to work with China, it does not wish to make the same mistakes as in the past. For example, she cited the concept of "change by trade", which states that the West could achieve political changes within authoritarian regimes via commerce.

Baerbock said that China also had a duty to contribute to world peace, and in particular use its influence on Russia in the conflict in Ukraine.

She welcomed Beijing’s promise to not supply weapons to Russia including dual-use items. However, Berlin will see how this promise works in practice.

Olaf Scholz’s government, in a departure from former chancellor Angela Merkel’s policies, is developing a China strategy to reduce dependency on Asia’s economic superpower - a vital market for German exports.

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