When it comes to China-Germany talks, there seems to be no beating around the bush. "Madam Chancellor prefers to talk without notes and is very straightforward," said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to his German counterpart Angela Merkel during a public appearance on her recent four-day visit to China. "I like this style."

Merkel was in China for an official visit on August 26-29. It was her second China tour since she took office in November 2005, just three months after German President Horst Koehler's first visit to China.

Merkel also met Chinese President Hu Jintao and Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, in Beijing and toured Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, before leaving for Japan.

In a frank and constructive atmosphere, Merkel and Chinese leaders discussed hotly contested issues ranging from climate change to the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and product quality.

Thirty-five years after they established diplomatic relations in 1972, China and Germany have seen their relations move to a new stage. Merkel's visit will inject a fresh impetus to the relationship, foreign affairs experts said.

Wang Rong, Director of the European Division of the Institute of World Development at the Development Research Center of the State Council, said the economic cooperation between China and Germany has been hugely successful. Germany has always been China's largest trading partner in Europe during the past 35 years. In 2006, their bilateral trade volume was $78.2 billion, accounting for nearly one third of the China-Europe trade volume, which stood at $272.3 billion, according to Chinese statistics.

At the same time, China and Germany enjoy sound political relations, Wang said. In 2004, both announced a plan to build a "partnership that shoulders global responsibilities," a testament to the importance the two governments attach to friendly bilateral cooperation.

Wang pointed out that the two countries' cooperation is based on their shared national interests in many fields such as economy, politics, antiterrorism and environmental protection. As the countries strengthen their bilateral collaboration and cooperation on international issues, China-Germany relations will have growing global implications, she said.

Germany held the rotating presidency of the European Union in the first half of the year. It also hosted the G8 Summit in June. In this context, Germany has put tackling climate change at the top of its diplomatic agenda, Wang said. The prospects for the cooperation between China and Germany in environmental protection and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions will be bright, as the former has a large market and the latter boasts advanced technology, she added.

During his meeting with Merkel, Wen pledged that China would bear its obligations in fighting climate change and was committed to improving energy efficiency.

Climate change is a common challenge for the international community, he said. China sticks to a strategy of sustainable development and has achieved remarkable progress in tackling climate change and improving the ecological environment, he said.

In June, the Chinese Government adopted its first national action plan to respond to climate change. It has set goals to reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent and major pollutant discharges by 10 percent by the end of 2010.

"It will be extremely difficult to reach these targets, but we have already shown our determination," Wen said in a Xinhua News Agency report.

Merkel said Germany was willing to step up its cooperation with China on the issue of climate change. She called on all countries to stick to the fundamental principle of "common but differentiated responsibility" under the framework of the United Nations and work together to address climate change issues.

After the talks, Wen and Merkel signed several bilateral cooperation documents, including two framework agreements on the establishment of working groups in the fields of environmental protection and energy.

Wen also addressed concerns on China's IPR protection and product quality. The Chinese Government has continuously improved its legal system concerning product quality and quality standards, while strengthening law enforcement and supervision in this regard, he said. China always takes a responsible attitude toward product quality but is opposed to trade protectionism and discrimination against Chinese products, he said.

"IPR protection is not only an issue between countries, but also a requirement directly related to China's development," Wen said, vowing to punish IPR violators fully under the law.

Merkel said she believes that China has set up a sound legal foundation for IPR protection, and she called for specific measures to help fulfill the policies.

During his meeting with Merkel, Hu made a three-point proposal to deepen bilateral relations:

· maintain close high-level exchanges to enhance communication, expand consensus and mutual trust, and take into consideration each other's concerns and interests in key areas;

· broaden concrete cooperation in various fields including trade, clean and renewable energy and air purification, and strengthen exchanges in culture, education, science and technology and youth affairs; and

· persist in international cooperation under a multilateral framework to jointly confront global challenges and make new contributions to world peace and common development.

Merkel said that Germany would continue to uphold the one-China policy, which recognizes Taiwan as part of the country. She also said that Germany was willing to maintain communication and coordination with China on key issues.

"Developing China-Germany relations based on the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit meets the basic interests of both peoples and is also conducive to China-Europe ties and the world's peace and stability," Hu told Merkel during their one-hour meeting.

Pathways to understanding

Merkel and top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo agreed that the Chinese and German parliaments would expand their relations by enhancing dialogue, reducing differences and expanding common ground.

"We hope Germany would have a comprehensive, objective and correct understanding about China," Wu said.

Wu added that vigorous exchanges between China and Germany in the parliamentary field had promoted mutual understanding of the peoples and played a crucial role in promoting relations.

Merkel's visit was the sixth paid by top leaders of China and Germany to each other's countries since 2004, said Volker Stanzel, Germany's former ambassador to China. Also in the past three years, the German chancellor and the Chinese premier have had eight telephone conversations, he said at a press conference on August 20 shortly before he left office.

The ambassador also said that China-Germany relations are developing in a friendly atmosphere at present, because there are no economic or political barriers between the two countries. Both countries are engaged in a number of cooperative programs in different areas and have committed great efforts to implement the programs, he said.

"Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together," a three-year cultural event inaugurated during Merkel's visit, is the longest program to showcase Germany in a foreign country, Stanzel said. It will give people in six major provincial hubs, including Nanjing, Guangzhou and Chengdu, an overall picture of Germany. Stanzel said he hoped the program would present a modern, open Germany to the Chinese and prompt more Chinese tourists and academic experts to visit the country. Nanjing, home to many German enterprises, will be the first city to experience a variety of German art, music and plays. Merkel attended the classical ballet Romeo and Juliet, performed jointly by Chinese and German dancers on August 28, marking the program's start in Nanjing.

But while Chinese scholars have a fairly good knowledge of Germany, German scholars as well as the general public have yet to learn more about China, Wang said. She said she hopes that the cultural program will help enhance Germany's understanding of China as well.