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China–Germany relations, also calledSino-German relations, are theinternational relations between China and Germany. Until 1914, the Germansleased concessions in China, including little parts ofYantai City andQingdao onShandong Peninsula. AfterWorld War I, during which the Germans lost all theirleased territories in China, Sino-German relations gradually improved asGerman military advisers assisted theKuomintang government'sNational Revolutionary Army, though this would change during the 1930s asAdolf Hitler graduallyallied himself with Japan. During the aftermath of theEastern Front (World War II), Germany was divided in two states: a liberal and democraticWest Germany and a communistEast Germany.Cold War tensions led to a West German alliance with the United States against communism and thus allied against thePeople's Republic of China (PRC). The Eastern part was allied through theSoviet Union with the PRC. AfterGerman reunification, relations between Germany and China improved.
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UnlikePortugal or theNetherlands, 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 asJesuit missionaries. Some of them played a significant role in China's history, as didJohann Adam Schall von Bell (in China in 1619–1666), who was inBeijing when it was taken by theManchus in 1644, and soon became a trusted counselor of the earlyQing leaders. Meanwhile, inRome another German Jesuit,Athanasius Kircher, who never got to go to China himself, used reports of other Jesuits in China to compileChina Illustrata, a work that was instrumental in popularizing knowledge about China among the 17th-century European readers.[citation needed]
The earliest Sino-German trade occurred overland throughSiberia, and was subject to transit taxes by theRussian government. To make trading more profitable,Prussia decided to take the sea route, and the first German merchant ships arrived inQing China, as part of theRoyal Prussian Asian Trading Company ofEmden in the 1750s. In 1861, after China's defeat in theSecond Opium War, theTreaty of Tientsin was signed, which opened formal commercial relations between various European states, including Prussia, with China.[1]
In 1859, following theQing dynasty's defeat in theSecond Opium War, Prussia sent theEulenburg Expedition to negotiate commercial treaties with the Qing, theEmpire of Japan andSiam. On 2 September 1861,Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg and a representative from theZongli Yamen signed theTreaty of Tianjin, which opened formal commercial relations between China andPrussia, which represented theGerman Customs Union. Prussia would later on become the dominant and leading part of the newly foundedGerman Empire. The treaty would govern Sino-German relations untilWorld War I, when theRepublic of China repudiated the treaty unilaterally.[citation needed]
During the late 19th century, Sino-foreign trade was dominated by theBritish Empire, andOtto von Bismarck was eager to establish German footholds in China to balance theBritish dominance. In 1885, Bismarck had theReichstag 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 theDeutsch-Asiatische Bank in 1890. Through these efforts, Germany was second to Britain in trading and shipping in China by 1896.[citation needed]
Due to the decisiveness of steam-powered fleets over thejunks of the smallImperial Chinese Navy 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 andGerman assistance, and twoDingyuan-class ironclads were ordered from Germany, theDingyuan and theZhenyuan.[2][3]
In 1897, theGerman empire took advantage of themurder of two German missionaries to invadeQingdao and founded theJiaozhou 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.[4] In 1900, Germany took part in theEight-Nation Alliance that was sent to relieve theSiege of the International Legations in Beijing during theBoxer Uprising. China paid a large annual indemnity.[citation needed]
In 1907–1908, Kaiser Wilhelm II sentPrince of Bülow, Chancellor at the time, to discuss a potential treaty of triple alliance with the Qing high-ranking official Yuan and PresidentTheodore Roosevelt.[5] But it was overturned in favor of theGentlemen's Agreement of 1907 and due to the passing of Grand Empress Dowager,Cixi.[citation needed]
During theXinhai revolution, revolutionaries killed a German arms dealer in Hankou as he was delivering arms to the Qing.[6] Revolutionaries killed 2 Germans and wounded 2 other Germans at the battle of Hanyang, including a former colonel.[7]
The German military had a major role in Republican China.[8] The German Navy'sEast Asia Squadron was in charge of Germany's concessions atQingdao, 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, theWeimar Republic provided extensive advisory services to the under Japan rule Republic of China, especially training for the Japanese led Chinese army.[citation needed]
As well as studying and visiting Japan, Germans visited and studied China in between the two World Wars.[citation needed]
Colonel GeneralHans 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.[9] 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.[citation needed] 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".[10][11] 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.[12][13]
However, at the same time, the exiled German CommunistOtto Braun was in China as aComintern agent, probably sent in 1934, but most probably adouble agent, to advise theChinese Communist Party (CCP) on military strategy and taking a major part in TheLong March under a Chinese name, Li De (Chinese:李德;pinyin:Lǐ Dé); it was only many years later that Otto Braun and "Li De" came to be known as the same person.[14]
Sino-German cooperation collapsed in 1939 due to the start ofWorld War II in Europe, forcing many Chinese nationals to leave Germany due to increased government surveillance and coercion. The example the Japan set in theSecond Sino-Japanese War forced Hitler to replace China with Japan as the Nazi's strategic ally in East Asia.[15] Following the JapaneseAttack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Chinese declared war on Germany, which resulted in theGestapo launching mass arrests of Chinese nationals across Germany. The very few Chinese inGerman-occupied Poland were also victims of Nazi Germany, with 13 deported fromWarsaw to theGross-Rosen concentration camp in 1944.[16] At the end of the war, the Chinese communities in cities such asBerlin,Hamburg, andBremen that existed before the war were destroyed.[citation needed]
TheFederal Republic of Germany orWest Germany initially did not recognize thePeople's Republic of China primarily because of its hard-line anti-communist foreign policy of theHallstein Doctrine. West Germany formally supported theOne-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.[17][18][19]
TheGerman Democratic Republic also managed to have good relations with the PRC, despite theSino-Soviet Split that occurred for most of theCold War until the1989 Sino-Soviet Summit.[20] Since the March 1982 speech on Sino-Soviet rapprochement by General SecretaryLeonid Brezhnev to theCommunist Party of Uzbekistan inTashkent, Sino-East German relations began to steadily improve. In June 1986, Foreign MinisterWu Xueqian visitedEast Berlin in the highest-level Chinese delegation toEastern Europe since the 1961 split.[21] Moreover, ChairmanErich Honecker visitedBeijing in early October 1986, where he was met by Chinese PresidentLi Xiannian with in a welcoming ceremony onTiananmen Square amilitary band and a marchpast by thePeople's Liberation Armyhonor guard. The visit became the first official visit by anEastern Bloc leader to the PRC.[22][23]
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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 wereJiang Zemin, formerGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party;Qiao Shi, formerChairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC); andLi Peng, formerPremier of China and Chairman of the NPC Standing. Meanwhile, German leaders who visited China included PresidentRoman Herzog, ChancellorHelmut Kohl, Foreign MinisterKlaus Kinkel and Minister of State at the GermanFederal Foreign OfficeLudger Volmer. Among these leaders, Chancellor Kohl visited China twice in 1993 and 1995. Since the new German government came into power in October 1998, ChancellorGerhard Schröder has paid three visits to China. One after another from Germany came Vice Prime Minister and Foreign MinisterJoschka Fischer, Defense MinisterRudolf Scharping, and Minister of Economics and TechnologyWerner Müller. At the same time, Germany welcomed Chinese PrimerZhu Rongji, Foreign MinisterTang Jiaxuan, State CouncilorWu Yi, member of thePolitical Bureau of the CCPCentral CommitteeWei Jianxing as well as member of theCCP Politburo Standing CommitteeHu Jintao.
Relations would continue to improve even more after 1998. For instance,Berlin andPeking (at that time yet called Peking), and fervently opposedthe invasion ofIraq made by theUnited 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[citation needed] also opposed direct military involvement of US in the2011 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.[citation needed]
Huawei, a major Chinese tech company, has collaborated withPorsche Design, a German design company in developing their Porsche Design Huawei Smartwatch GT 2[24][25]
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 theDalai Lama on Instagram.[26]
In September 2019, China's ambassador to Germany stated that the meeting between Germany's foreign minister and Hong Kong activistJoshua Wong will damage relations with China.[27]
On 22 April 2020, Germany'sInterior 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.[28]
In December 2020, with Germany ending its two-year term on theUnited Nations Security Council, Chinese AmbassadorGeng Shuang responded "Out of the bottom of my heart: good riddance" in response to the German AmbassadorChristoph Heusgen's appeal to free two CanadiansMichael Kovrig andMichael Spavor detained in China.[29]
In October 2021, a tweet from theGlobal Times called for a "final solution to the Taiwan question" which was condemned by German politicianFrank Müller-Rosentritt for its similarity to the “final solution to the Jewish question” which resulted inthe Holocaust.[30]
In December 2021, as a result of a diplomatic spat betweenLithuania and China over Taiwan andhuman rights China pressuredContinental AG and other German companies to stop doing business with Lithuania.[31][32] TheBundesverband der Deutschen Industrie described the expansion of the ban on importing Lithuanian goods to components in integrated supply chains as a "devastating own goal."[33] The German government approved a quarter ownership for China shipper,COSCO, in the Hamburg container terminal port in May 2023.[34] 2023 also brought the Federal Government Strategy on China, which laid out the German government's stance on China.[35]
In September 2023, German Foreign MinisterAnnalena Baerbock namedCCP General SecretaryXi Jinping a dictator next toVladimir Putin.[36] In April 2024, German authorities arrested three German nationals forspying for China and arranging illicit militarytechnology transfers.[37][38] The same month, authorities arrested a suspected spy, Jian Guo, working forMaximilian Krah.[39][40] The spy was later sentenced to four years in prison.[41] In July 2024, Germany blocked the sale of a gas turbine business to a subsidiary ofChina State Shipbuilding Corporation for national security reasons.[42] The same month, the German government announced a deal with telecommunication companies in the country to remove Chinese 5G equipment by 2029.[43]
In July 2024, Germany summoned the Chinese ambassador over a 2021 cyber-attack against theFederal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy attributed to "Chinese state actors" for the "purpose of espionage."[44] In August 2024, Germany's IT sector trade association reported that 45% of German businesses had suffered cyberattacks orindustrial espionage traced to China.[45] In October 2024, a Chinese woman was arrested inLeipzig on suspicion passing information on arms deliveries to Chinese intelligence.[46][47] In November 2024, German authorities investigated a Chinese shipping vessel, theYi Peng 3, in theBaltic Sea after it was found be in the vicinity of two severed undersea fiber-optic data cables and suspected of sabotage.[48][49]
In January 2025, German prosecutors indicted three German nationals for illegally obtaining information on military technology for theMinistry of State Security (MSS).[50] In July 2025, Germany's Foreign Office summoned China's ambassador to Germany after aPLAN warship targeted a German aircraft, a specially configuredBeechcraft King Air 350[51] that was flying towardsDjibouti, with a laser duringOperation Aspides in theRed Sea.[52][53] According toDer 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.”[51] 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 destroyer CNSBaotou (133), frigate CNSHonghe (523) and fleet oilerCNSGaoyouhu (904).[54]
In November 2025, German Vice ChanelloerLars Klingbeil visited China as part of the biannual financial dialogue talks between the two countries. During the visit, he met with Vice PremierHe Lifeng andWang Huning, thechairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.[55] He also met withLiu Haixing, thehead of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party, in his capacity as the co-leader of the Social Democratic Party as part of the party dialogue between the SPD and the CCP established in 1984.[56]
Germany follows the one China policy. According to its national strategy, Germany "has close and good relations with Taiwan in many areas and wants to expand them. As part of the EU’s One-China policy, we support issue-specific involvement on the part of democratic Taiwan in international organisations. The status quo of the Taiwan Strait may only be changed by peaceful means and mutual consent". According to Foreign MinisterFrank-Walter Steinmeier in 2008, Germany considers Taiwan to be a part of China.[57][58]
In July 2019, the UN ambassadors from 22 nations, including Germany, signed a joint letter to theUnited Nations Human Rights Council condemningChina's persecution of the Uyghurs as well as its mistreatment of other minority groups, urging theCCP General SecretaryXi Jinping'sgovernment to close theXinjiang internment camps.[59][60] In 2019,Volkswagen Group came under pressure for cooperating with the Chinese government in the region ofXinjiang.[61]
In June 2020, Germany opposed theHong Kong national security law.[62] 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.[63]
Chinese markets are important forGerman industry, particularly theGerman automotive industry.[64]: 24 Germany is China's biggest trading partner and technology exporter in Europe.[65] 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 ofelectric vehicle technology. From 2020 to 2025, German carmakers have seen their market share in China decline from 24 percent to 13 percent.[66][67]
The trade volume between China and Germany surpassed 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2008.[68][needs independent confirmation]
By 2014,German ChancellorAngela Merkel had visited China on trade missions seven times since assuming office in 2005; this underlines the importance of China to the German economy.[69]
In February 2024,Volkswagen Group and Chineseelectric vehicle manufacturerXPeng signed a technology cooperation and joint development agreement on platform and software.[70]
A survey published in 2025 by thePew Research Center found that 67% of people in German people had an unfavorable view of China, while 29% had a favorable view.[71]
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Investigators say they believe that its Chinese captain was induced by Russian intelligence to cut the cables with the ship's anchor.
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