German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stressed the importance of fair and rule-based trade as he began his two-day visit to China on Monday.

"We are in favor of free world trade. We are in favor of removing trade barriers," Wadephul said in Beijing during talks with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

The foreign minister said that China was Germany's most important trading partner and that Berlin intended to expand the partnership. The trip's aim is to identify "where we can strengthen our economic relations, but also determine where obstacles exist," he said. 

The trip comes six weeks after Wadephul was forced to delay  his first planned visit after Beijing failed to confirm meetings with key leaders. That came amid tensions over Taiwan — the democratically run island that Beijing claims as its own.

Wadephul had repeatedly and publicly denounced China's "increasingly aggressive behavior" in the Taiwan Strait and in the East and South China Seas.

Some observers spoke of a diplomatic scandal, especially since Wadephul had been planning to prepare the way for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's inaugural visit to China.

What is on Wadephul's agenda?

Following a meeting with China's commerce minister, the top German diplomat met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Wadephul spoke about China's restrictions on rare-earth exports that are critical for auto, tech and defense manufacturers. 

He said Beijing was still far from being persuaded to grant general export licences for rare earth minerals to Germany.

"We have received signals but there is still quite a lot of work to be done," Wadephul told German broadcaster ZDF in an interview from Beijing.

He is also likely to bring up China's support of Russia in its war in Ukraine, especially the purchase of Russian oil, despite Beijing's formal neutral stance. Germany itself has stopped large-scale gas imports from Russia in 2022.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko