President Xi Jinping has called for greater cooperation with Germany, saying China was willing to open a “new chapter” of partnership, as Beijing continued its efforts to improve ties with European economies to buffer the impact of its trade war with the United States. In a call with Germany’s new chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday, Xi said healthy and stable ties between the two countries were in their interests as he urged high-level exchanges and the consolidation of mutual trust. “China is willing to open a new chapter of all-round strategic partnership with Germany, lead China-Europe relations to new developments, and make new contributions to the stable growth of the global economy,” he said, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. Calling Germany a “partner” of China, Xi outlined areas of cooperation ranging from traditional fields – including automobiles, machinery manufacturing and chemicals – to other areas such as artificial intelligence. Xi said Beijing hoped Germany would provide a “fair, transparent and non-discriminatory” business environment for Chinese firms, adding that “the correct positioning for China-Germany and China-EU relations is a partnership”. According to CCTV, Merz said Berlin’s cooperation with Beijing was of particular significance given the current international situation, and that the new German government was willing to promote the development of ties in a “constructive and pragmatic spirit”. A separate German statement said Merz underscored the importance of fair competition and reciprocity, and that the two leaders discussed issues including the Ukraine war. It also added that Merz and Xi agreed to resume direct exchanges soon. The call was the latest in a wave of exchanges between China and Europe amid recent signs of a thaw in relations, including Beijing’s move to lift sanctions on five members of the European Parliament and on its subcommittee on human rights last month. This month alone, China has played host to the foreign ministers of Denmark and the Netherlands. And on Thursday, Xi held a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron. While Europe remains deeply concerned about China’s trade policies and its position on the Ukraine war, there have been calls for the region to build closer ties with Beijing in part due to US President Donald Trump’s global trade war. For China, even though it has agreed to a 90-day truce in its tariff war with the US, Washington’s decision to impose a global ban on Chinese firm Huawei Technologies’ Ascend AI chips last week appeared to raise tensions, with Beijing calling the move a “baseless suppression of Chinese technology companies”. The Friday call came just weeks after Merz became Germany’s 10th post-war chancellor, even as he fell short in the first round of voting. In his first major speech to the Bundestag, he said Germany’s ties with China were being “shaped by systemic rivalry and power politics”, and described Beijing’s close relations with Moscow as an area of “great concern”. He said that while China remained an important partner for Germany and the rest of the European Union on global challenges, Berlin would pursue “strategic de-risking” with Beijing and “reduce one-sided dependencies”. In his congratulatory message to Merz earlier this month, Xi said China and Germany had grown into “good partners that advance together and help each other succeed”, adding that the two countries should deepen exchanges and cooperation as well as promote an equal and orderly multipolar world. “Today’s world is marked by intertwined transformation and upheaval, with surging headwinds of unilateralism and protectionism. Yet peace, development and win-win cooperation remain the right way forward for humanity and the unstoppable trends of the times,” Xi wrote. Top Chinese officials have stressed in their recent exchanges with European leaders that the continent should expand cooperation with Beijing and work together to protect the multilateral trading system and global order. When Xi spoke to Macron on Thursday, he called for the two countries to be “reliable forces for maintaining the international order” and to jointly defend international trade rules and practise “true multilateralism”. “The more complex the international situation becomes … the more China and France need to make the right strategic choice,” he said.