State Media Highlight German Chancellor's Visit to Chinese Tech Firms by 'Manufacturing Powerhouse'
Divergence Between Two Countries on Overproduction Issue
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is visiting China, is inspecting the Siemens Energy plant facilities located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China on the 26th. Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News
As global uncertainty fueled by the Donald Trump administration in the United States intensifies, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz chose Hangzhou as the final stop of his two-day visit to China on the 25th and 26th.
According to the state-run English-language newspaper Global Times, Reuters, and the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 27th, on the last day of his visit to China, Chancellor Merz visited the factory of Unitree (Weisu Keji), a robotics company located in Hangzhou, where he watched a martial arts and combat performance by humanoid robots and examined their components.
Hangzhou, located in Zhejiang Province near Shanghai, is considered a hub of China’s robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Both Zhejiang University-an elite engineering institution that produced Liang Wenfeng, who stunned the world with the “DeepSeek shock” in January last year-and the headquarters of DeepSeek are located in Hangzhou.
Chinese state media gave significant coverage to these events, highlighting China’s technological advances through the actions of the chancellor of Germany, a manufacturing powerhouse. Afterwards, he also visited Siemens Energy in Hangzhou to review the current state of the energy sector.
Prime Minister Merz is closely examining various components displayed at the Unitree headquarters. Photo by AP Yonhap News
After completing his schedule, Chancellor Merz stated, “There are impressive examples of cooperation, but there are also challenges related to competition and China’s high production capacity,” adding, “China’s production is vastly exceeding the demand in the European market.”
He also announced that he would request German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Katharina Reiche, to visit China for further discussion on these issues. However, it is known that China does not acknowledge the problem of overproduction, which has emerged as a point of conflict with the European Union (EU).
According to “Weiyuantantian,” a social media account affiliated with China Central Television (CCTV), Chancellor Merz met with representatives from 10 Chinese companies on that day, spanning various fields such as traditional manufacturing, AI, humanoid robots, and new energy vehicles. He also test-drove the new S-Class equipped with a jointly developed autonomous driving system by German automaker Mercedes-Benz and Chinese autonomous driving startup Momenta, experiencing the self-driving technology firsthand.
There were also tangible outcomes from the visit. During his trip, Chancellor Merz met with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang to discuss strengthening cooperation between the two countries. The two nations signed five cooperation documents covering areas such as climate change, green transition, and sports, and China’s potential additional order of up to 120 Airbus aircraft was also mentioned.
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