China and Germany: a new type of great power relations

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's seventh visit to China from July 5 to 8, 2014, has not only offered her a chance to learn how to cook kung pao chicken, a traditional Chinese dish, but also upgraded Germany-China relations one step further. So far, no leader of any foreign country has visited China more often than Merkel.

One of the fancy buzzwords in China's foreign policy vocabulary these days is "New Type Great Power Relations" (NTGPR). According to Chinese President Xi Jinping's explanation to President Obama when they met in early June 2013, in California, NTGPR means "no conflict", "no confrontation", "mutual respect" and "cooperation toward win-win results".

READ: Expectations from Merkel's 7th China trip

China's desire to have a NTGPR with the United States is urgent and understandable. It was reported that, after some hesitation, the United States agreed to accept the notion of NTGPR, but has only respected it in words, not in deeds. Therefore, some say that so far only China and Russia have established the NTGPR.

Germany is believed to be "too big for Europe and too small for the world". No matter whether this observation is right or wrong, there is no doubt Germany is a major power, except in one aspect: It is not a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

So Germany's relationship with China can be considered as a relationship between major powers. And, thanks to their joint efforts, the two nations have also established a NTGPR. This conclusion can be supported by the following facts:

First, visits between the leaders of the two nations are frequent. It is well known that Chancellor Merkel and Wen Jiabao, China's former premier, nurtured very close personal ties, and this type of relationship between her and Li Keqiang, Wen's successor, is emerging. As a matter of fact, Merkel was first foreign leader to congratulate Li on his appointment as Chinese premier in March 2013, and Germany was among the first places Li visited in May 2013 after he became Chinese government leader. During his visit, Li and Merkel spent seven hours together. Merkel even devoted some time on Sunday (May 26) to meet the visiting Chinese leader at a closed-door meeting in her own office.

Second, economic relations between China and Germany are developing very rapidly. In 2002, China surpassed Japan as Germany's largest trade partner in Asia. According to China's calculations, bilateral trade between the two partners totaled US$161.6 billion in 2013, accounting for roughly 30 percent of the total China-EU trade. That is to say, each day more than US$400 million worth of goods were traded between the two partners.

Bilateral investment has become another win-win field of cooperation. China's huge market had attracted US$21.8 billion of German investment by the end of 2013. Chinese investment in Germany is much lower, almost US$4 billion by 2013, but is growing steadily. The Chinese company Sanyi's acquisition of Putzmeister, a leading German machinery producer, for 324 million euros (US$427.4 million), was a headline in international business news.