German foreign minister holds first online meeting with Chinese counterpart

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, had their first videoconference on Thursday and discussed topics including the countries’ bilateral relations and global crises, the ministry said on Twitter.

“Close cooperation with China is important in many areas. This also applies to environmental and climate policy. Without the world’s most populous country, it will not be possible to fight the climate crisis and its global consequences,” the ministry quoted its spokesperson as saying.

The spokesperson added that respect for international law is fundamental as the basis for cooperation, and Baerbock and Yi discussed questions where the countries have “fundamental differences in opinions,” including human rights.

(Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska, Editing by Miranda Murray)