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Germany, China say ties have 'returned to normal'
2008-01-23
The foreign ministers of China and Germany said Tuesday that ties between their countries had normalised after months of stony silence over Berlin receiving the Dalai Lama. "This meeting today is a sign that our bilateral relations are back to normal," Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters ahead of talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi. "The good and close partnership (between Germany and China) has a long tradition," he added, flanked by Yang, who was in Berlin for negotiations on possible new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme. Before his meeting with Steinmeier, Yang said he welcomed Germany's efforts to heal the rift created by Chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting with the exiled Tibetan leader in September. "Recently Germany has clearly shown that it adheres strictly to the one-China policy," he said, by which Berlin recognizes only the Beijing government of mainland China. "The Chinese government appreciates this position," he said, underlining the importance of "mutual respect" and non-interference in each other's domestic affairs. China, Yang said, "attaches great importance to maintaining good relations with Germany." The two countries share "the same point of view on many international issues" and underscored their common interests but also their "shared challenges", he added. Diplomatic sources said the two sides celebrated the thaw with the announcement of a series of official visits in the coming months including a trip by German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel to China next week. Separately Merkel told public broadcaster NDR that nothing had changed Germany's "one-China policy" but, regarding the Dalai Lama visit, she stressed that "differences must be tolerated between friends." Steinmeier conceded that "the last few months have been difficult" since Merkel welcomed the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing considers to be a dangerous separatist. Steinmeier and Yang were meeting in Berlin with their counterparts from Britain, France, Russia and the United States on possible new sanctions against Iran for defying UN resolutions on its disputed nuclear ambitions. Beyond its impact on bilateral ties, Merkel's meeting with the Dalai Lama drove a wedge through Germany's power-sharing government. Steinmeier had accused Merkel of "practicing politics for show," potentially jeopardising key political and economic ties with Beijing and compromising Berlin's efforts to win Chinese support for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme. Merkel on Tuesday said Steinmeier did not deserve all the credit for the rapprochement with Beijing. "That was the work of the chancellor's office, I contributed with several public statements and the foreign minister also did his part," she said. "Everyone made clear it was quite an important matter." The chancellor added she had welcomed an invitation to Beijing from Science and Technology Minister Wang Gang, made in an interview with a German business newspaper this week. "I was pleased to read that," she said.
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