German President Horst Koehler has begun a five-day trip to China in Beijing, where he was welcomed with military honors by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Later he is to meet with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, the head of China's central bank and civil society representatives. On the agenda are bilateral ties, climate change and the global financial crisis.

Koehler, who is being accompanied on his trip by a large business delegation, is also scheduled to attend "Germany Day" on Wednesday at the Shanghai Expo.

In Shanghai, Germany has constructed its most expensive expo pavilion to date: "Balancity" cost about 50 billion euros ($62 billion). Some of the Expo attendees will be fresh from this year's Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business, which wrapped up in Singapore on Saturday.

China's human rights record was expected to be on the agenda, as it has been during Koehler's several previous meetings with Chinese leaders, but was not expected to top it.

svs/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Chuck Penfold