China–Germany relations, also called Sino-German relations, are the

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

between China and Germany. Until 1914, the Germans

leased A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the Lessor (leasing), ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are l ...

concessions in China, including little parts of Yantai City and

Qingdao Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...

Shandong Peninsula The Shandong Peninsula or Jiaodong (tsiaotung) Peninsula is a peninsula in Shandong in eastern China, between the Bohai Sea to the north and the Yellow Sea to the south. The latter name refers to the east and Jiaozhou. Geography The waters ...

. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, during which the Germans lost all their

territories in China, Sino-German relations gradually improved as German military advisers assisted the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

government's

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; zh, labels=no, t=國民革命軍) served as the military arm of the Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) from 1924 until 1947. From 1928, it functioned as the regular army, de facto ...

, though this would change during the 1930s as

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

gradually allied himself with Japan. During the aftermath of the

Eastern Front (World War II) The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

, Germany was divided in two states: a liberal and democratic

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and a communist

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

tensions led to a West German alliance with the United States against communism and thus allied against the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(PRC). The Eastern part was allied through the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

with the PRC. After

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, relations between Germany and China improved.

History

Early contacts

Unlike

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

or the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, German states were not involved, on the state level, in the early (16-17th centuries) contacts between Europe and China. Nonetheless, a number of individual Germans reached China at that time, in particular as

Jesuit missionaries The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

. Some of them played a significant role in China's history, as did

Johann Adam Schall von Bell Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1 May 1591 – 15 August 1666) was a German Jesuit, astronomer and instrument-maker. He spent most of his life as a missionary in China (where he is remembered as "Tang Ruowang") and became an adviser to the Shunz ...

(in China in 1619–1666), who was in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

when it was taken by the

Manchus The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) an ...

in 1644, and soon became a trusted counselor of the early

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

leaders. Meanwhile, in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

another German Jesuit,

Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Society of Jesus, Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jes ...

, who never got to go to China himself, used reports of other Jesuits in China to compile ''China Illustrata'', a work that was instrumental in popularizing knowledge about China among the 17th-century European readers. The earliest Sino-German trade occurred overland through

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, and was subject to transit taxes by the

Russian government The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...

. To make trading more profitable,

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

decided to take the sea route, and the first German merchant ships arrived in

Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty ...

, as part of the Royal Prussian Asian Trading Company of

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

in the 1750s. In 1861, after China's defeat in the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or ''Arrow'' War, was fought between the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major ...

, the

Treaty of Tientsin The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several Unequal treaty, unequal treaties signed at Tianjin (then Postal Map Romanization, romanized as Tientsin) in June 1858. The Qing Empire, Qing dynasty, ...

was signed, which opened formal commercial relations between various European states, including Prussia, with China.

Early diplomatic relations

In 1859, following the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

's defeat in the

, Prussia sent the

Eulenburg Expedition The Eulenburg expedition was a diplomatic mission conducted by Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg on behalf of Prussia and the German Customs Union in 1859–1862. Its aim was to establish diplomatic and commercial relations with China, Japan and Siam. ...

to negotiate commercial treaties with the Qing, the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

and

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. On 2 September 1861,

Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg Count Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg (29 June 1815 – 2 June 1881) was a Prussian diplomat and politician. He led the Eulenburg Expedition and secured the Prusso-Japanese Treaty of 24 January 1861, which was similar to other unequal treaties ...

and a representative from the

Zongli Yamen The ''Zongli Yamen'' (), short for Office for the General Management of Affairs Concerning the Various Countries (), also known as Prime Minister's Office, Office of General Management, was the government body in charge of foreign policy in imp ...

signed the

Treaty of Tianjin The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several unequal treaties signed at Tianjin (then romanized as Tientsin) in June 1858. The Qing dynasty, Russian Empire, Second French Empire, United Kingdom, ...

, which opened formal commercial relations between China and

, which represented the

German Customs Union The (), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had b ...

. Prussia would later on become the dominant and leading part of the newly founded

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. The treaty would govern Sino-German relations until

, when the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

repudiated the treaty unilaterally. During the late 19th century, Sino-foreign trade was dominated by the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

, and

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...

was eager to establish German footholds in China to balance the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

dominance. In 1885, Bismarck had the Reichstag pass a steamship subsidy bill which offered direct service to China. In the same year, he sent the first German banking and industrial survey group to evaluate investment possibilities, which led to the establishment of the

Deutsch-Asiatische Bank The Deutsch-Asiatische Bank (DAB; ) was a foreign bank in Asia, founded in 1889 in Shanghai. Even though its owners were private-sector banks and its principal activity was trade financing, its role has been described as "quasi-governmental" in ...

in 1890. Through these efforts, Germany was second to Britain in trading and shipping in China by 1896. Due to the decisiveness of steam-powered fleets over the

junks A junk () is a type of Chinese sailing ship characterized by a central rudder, an overhanging flat transom, watertight bulkheads, and a flat-bottomed design. They are also characteristically built using iron nails and clamps. The term applie ...

of the small

Imperial Chinese Navy The Imperial Chinese Navy was the modern navy of the Qing dynasty of China established in 1875. An Imperial naval force in China first came into existence from 1132 during the Song dynasty and existed in some form until the end of the Qing dynast ...

during China's conflicts with European powers in the mid-nineteenth century, the Chinese began a naval construction program in the 1880s to meet these threats more effectively. They enlisted British and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

assistance, and two s were ordered from Germany, the '' Dingyuan'' and the '' Zhenyuan''. In 1897, the

German empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

took advantage of the murder of two German missionaries to invade

and founded the Jiaozhou Bay colony. Germany took control of key points in the Shandong Peninsula. In 1898, it leased for 99 years Jiaozhou Bay and its port of Qingdao under threat of force. Development was a high priority for Berlin. Over 200 million marks were invested in world-class harbor facilities such as berths, heavy machinery, rail yards, and a floating dry dock. Private enterprise worked across the Shandong Province, opening mines, banks, breweries, factories, shops and rail lines. In 1900, Germany took part in the

Eight-Nation Alliance The Eight-Nation Alliance was a multinational military coalition that invaded northern China in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, with the stated aim of relieving the foreign legations in Beijing, which were being besieged by the popular Boxer ...

that was sent to relieve the

Siege of the International Legations The siege of the International Legations was a pivotal event during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, in which foreign diplomatic compounds in Peking (now Beijing) were besieged by Chinese Boxers and Qing Dynasty troops. The Boxers, fueled by anti-f ...

in Beijing during the

Boxer Uprising The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious ...

. China paid a large annual indemnity. In 1907–1908, Kaiser Wilhelm II sent Prince of Bülow, Chancellor at the time, to discuss a potential treaty of triple alliance with the Qing high-ranking official Yuan and President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

. But it was overturned in favor of the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 and due to the passing of Grand Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager Cixi, Cixi. During the Xinhai revolution, revolutionaries killed a German arms dealer in Hankou as he was delivering arms to the Qing. Revolutionaries killed 2 Germans and wounded 2 other Germans at the battle of Hanyang, including a former colonel.

Early twentieth century

The German military had a major role in Republican China. The German Navy's East Asia Squadron was in charge of Germany's concessions at

, and spent heavily to set up modern facilities that would be a showcase for Asia. The Empire of Japan seized the German operations in 1914 after sharp battles. After World War I, the Weimar Republic provided extensive advisory services to the under Japan rule Republic of China, especially training for the Japanese led Chinese army. As well as studying and visiting Japan, Germans visited and studied China in between the two World Wars. Colonel General Hans von Seeckt, the former commander the German army, organized the training of Japanese led China's elite army units and the beginning civil war that included military activities against the Chinese Communists from 1933 to 1935. All military academies had German officers, as did most army units. In addition, German engineers provided expertise and bankers provided loans for China's railroad system. Trade with Germany flourished in the 1920s, with Germany as China's largest supplier of government credit. According to some not confirmed sources in 1937, H.H. Kung visited Germany in an attempt "''to convince Hitler to side with China against Japan''". With assurances of the contrary Nazi Germany sided with the Japanese after they invaded China the following month and the last important German advisor left in 1938. However, at the same time, the exiled German Communist Otto Braun (communist), Otto Braun was in China as a Comintern agent, probably sent in 1934, but most probably a double agent, to advise the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on military strategy and taking a major part in The Long March under a Chinese name, Li De (); it was only many years later that Otto Braun and "Li De" came to be known as the same person.

World War II (1941–1945)

Sino-German cooperation collapsed in 1939 due to the start of World War II in Europe, forcing many Chinese nationals to leave Germany due to increased government surveillance and coercion. The example the Japan set in the Second Sino-Japanese War forced Hitler to replace China with Japan as the Nazi's strategic ally in East Asia. Following the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Chinese declared war on Germany, which resulted in the Gestapo launching mass arrests of Chinese nationals across Germany. The very few Chinese in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German-occupied Poland were also victims of Nazi Germany, with 13 deported from Warsaw to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in 1944. At the end of the war, the Chinese communities in cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen that existed before the war were destroyed.

Division of Germany and the Cold War (1945-1990)

The Federal Republic of Germany or

initially did not recognize the People's Republic of China primarily because of its hard-line anti-communist foreign policy of the Hallstein Doctrine. West Germany formally supported the One-China policy, in hopes of finding Chinese backing of the reunification of Germany. In October 1972, West Germany officially established diplomatic contacts with the PRC, although unofficial contacts had been in existence since 1964. The German Democratic Republic also managed to have good relations with the PRC, despite the Sino-Soviet Split that occurred for most of the

until the 1989 Sino-Soviet Summit. Since the March 1982 speech on Sino-Soviet rapprochement by General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev to the Communist Party of Uzbekistan in Tashkent, Sino-East German relations began to steadily improve. In June 1986, Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian visited East Berlin in the highest-level Chinese delegation to Eastern Europe since the 1961 split. Moreover, Chairman Erich Honecker visited

in early October 1986, where he was met by Chinese President Li Xiannian with in a welcoming ceremony on Tiananmen Square a military band and a marchpast by the People's Liberation Army honor guard. The visit became the first official visit by an Eastern Bloc leader to the PRC.

Reunified Germany (1990-present)

Early post-communism in united Germany

The frequent high-level diplomatic visits are acknowledged to have helped guarantee the smooth development of Sino-German relations. From 1993 to 1998, German and Chinese leaders met face-to-face 52 times: Among those Chinese leaders who visited Germany were Jiang Zemin, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party; Qiao Shi, former Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC); and Li Peng, former Premier of the People's Republic of China, Premier of China and Chairman of the NPC Standing. Meanwhile, German leaders who visited China included President Roman Herzog, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel and Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office Ludger Volmer. Among these leaders, Chancellor Kohl visited China twice in 1993 and 1995. Since the new German government came into power in October 1998, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has paid three visits to China. One after another from Germany came Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping, and Minister of Economics and Technology Werner Müller (politician), Werner Müller. At the same time, Germany welcomed Chinese Primer Zhu Rongji, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, State Councilor Wu Yi (politician), Wu Yi, member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, Central Committee Wei Jianxing as well as member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP Politburo Standing Committee Hu Jintao.

After 2000

Relations would continue to improve even more after 1998. For instance, Berlin and Beijing, Peking (at that time yet called Peking), and fervently opposed Iraq War, the invasion of Iraq made by the United States in 2003, and in 2006 Germany (the largest economy and the most populous country of the European Union) and the Chinese Republic further enhanced their foreign political, economic and diplomatic relations and even ties within one of an EU-Sino strategic partnerships. For example, Germany and Republic of China also opposed direct military involvement of US in the 2011 Libyan civil war that had been made after the liberation of the accused Libean medical sisters and doctors, that were accused of crimes against children there, and liberated by the French President. Huawei, a major Chinese tech company, has collaborated with Porsche Design, a German design company in developing their Porsche Design Huawei Smartwatch GT 2 Before the 2011 visit of China's PM Wen Jiabao, the Chinese government issued a "White Book on the accomplishments and perspective of Sino-German cooperation", the first of its kind for a European country. The visit also marked the first Sino-German government consultations, an exclusive mechanism for Sino-German communications. In 2018, Mercedes-Benz apologized to China for quoting the 14th Dalai Lama, Dalai Lama on Instagram. In July 2019, the UN ambassadors from 22 nations, including Germany, signed a joint letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning Persecution of Uyghurs in China, China's persecution of the Uyghurs as well as its mistreatment of other minority groups, urging the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping's China under Xi Jinping, government to close the Xinjiang internment camps. In 2019, Volkswagen Group came under pressure for cooperating with the Chinese government in the region of Xinjiang. In September 2019, China's ambassador to Germany stated that the meeting between Germany's foreign minister and Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong will damage relations with China.

2020-present

On 22 April 2020, Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, Interior Ministry released a letter revealing that Chinese diplomats had contacted German Government officials "to encourage them" "to make positive statements on how China was handling the coronavirus pandemic". The German government did not comply with these requests. In June 2020, Germany opposed the 2020 Hong Kong national security law, Hong Kong national security law. On 6 October 2020, Germany's ambassador to the UN, on behalf of the group of 39 countries including Germany, the U.K. and the U.S., made a statement to denounce China for its treatment of ethnic minorities and for curtailing freedoms in Hong Kong. In December 2020, with Germany ending its two-year term on the United Nations Security Council, Chinese Ambassador Geng Shuang responded "Out of the bottom of my heart: good riddance" in response to the German Ambassador Christoph Heusgen's appeal to free two Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor detained in China. In October 2021, a tweet from the ''Global Times'' called for a "final solution to the Taiwan question" which was condemned by German politician Frank Müller-Rosentritt for its similarity to the “final solution to the Jewish question” which resulted in the Holocaust. In December 2021, as a result of a diplomatic spat between Lithuania and China over Taiwan and Human rights in China, human rights China pressured Continental AG and other German companies to stop doing business with Lithuania. The Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie described the expansion of the ban on importing Lithuanian goods to components in integrated supply chains as a "devastating own goal." The German government approved a quarter ownership for China shipper, COSCO, in the Hamburg container terminal port in May 2023. 2023 also brought the Federal Government Strategy on China, which laid out the German government's stance on China. In September 2023, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock named General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping a dictator next to Vladimir Putin. In April 2024, German authorities arrested three German nationals for spying for China and arranging illicit military technology transfers. The same month, authorities arrested a suspected spy working for Maximilian Krah. In July 2024, Germany blocked the sale of a gas turbine business to a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation for national security reasons. The same month, the German government announced a deal with telecommunication companies in the country to remove Chinese 5G equipment by 2029. In July 2024, Germany summoned the Chinese ambassador over a 2021 cyber-attack against the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy attributed to "Chinese state actors" for the "purpose of espionage." In August 2024, Germany's IT sector trade association reported that 45% of German businesses had suffered cyberattacks or industrial espionage traced to China. In October 2024, a Chinese woman was arrested in Leipzig on suspicion passing information on arms deliveries to Chinese intelligence. In November 2024, German authorities investigated a Chinese shipping vessel, the ''Yi Peng 3'', in the Baltic Sea after it was found be in the vicinity of two severed undersea fiber-optic data cables and suspected of sabotage. In January 2025, German prosecutors indicted three German nationals for illegally obtaining information on military technology for the Ministry of State Security (China), Ministry of State Security (MSS). In July 2025, Germany's Foreign Office summoned China's ambassador to Germany after a People's Liberation Army Navy, PLAN warship targeted a German aircraft, a specially configured Beechcraft King Air 350 that was flying towards Djibouti, with a laser during Operation Aspides in the Red Sea. According to ''Der Spiegel'', the aircraft aborted its mission and returned to Djibouti after being laser-targeted by a Chinese PLAN frigate. A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated the ship had been seen in the area before and “laser-targeted the aircraft with no reason or prior communication during a routine mission flight.” The PLAN ship accused of carrying out the laser attack was believed to be from the three-ship PLAN 47th Chinese Naval Escort Taskforce, comprising of destroyer CNS ''Baotou'' (133), frigate CNS ''Honghe'' (523) and fleet oiler CNS Gaoyouhu, CNS ''Gaoyouhu'' (904).

Trade

Chinese markets are important for German industry, particularly the Automotive industry in Germany, German automotive industry. Germany is China's biggest trading partner and technology exporter in Europe. The sales of German automotive brands in China have declined rapidly in the 2020s due to the increasing competitiveness of Chinese brands and the quick adoption of Electric vehicle industry in China, electric vehicle technology. From 2020 to 2025, German carmakers have seen their market share in China decline from 24 percent to 13 percent. The trade volume between China and Germany surpassed 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2008. By 2014, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had visited China on trade missions seven times since assuming office in 2005; this underlines the importance of China to the German economy. In February 2024, Volkswagen Group and Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng signed a technology cooperation and joint development agreement on platform and software.

Resident diplomatic missions

* China has an embassy in Berlin and consulates-general in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. * Germany has an embassy in

and consulates-general in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenyang. File:Chinese consulate in Berlin.jpg, Embassy of China in Berlin File:Generalkonsulat der Volksrepublik China, Schanzenstraße 131, Düsseldorf-Oberkassel (01).jpg, Consulate-General of China in Düsseldorf File:Frankfurt, Stresemannallee 19-23.JPG, Consulate-General of China in Frankfurt File:Chinese consulate in Munich.JPG, Consulate-General of China in Munich File:Schulz Highline Auftritt Deutsche Botschaft Peking, China.jpg, Embassy of Germany in Beijing File:201908 German Consulate-General in Shanghai.jpg, Consulate-General of Germany in Shanghai