On September 22, 2020, Vice Foreign Minister Qin Gang attended upon invitation the reception of the German Embassy in China celebrating the 30th anniversary of German reunification.

In his speech, Qin Gang congratulated Germany on the 30th anniversary of its reunification and said, the realization of national reunification is the trend of the times and represents the shared aspiration of all people. Emboldened by foreign forces, the “Taiwan independence” separatist forces have become even more self-important now. In order to contain China’s development, some anti-China forces in the international community have fabricated various lies in an attempt to cause unrest and division in China by exploiting issues related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong. The 1.4 billion Chinese people will never allow this to happen. China once supported the German people in seeking and realizing national reunification and appreciated the German government’s long-term adherence to the One China policy. It is hoped that the German side will continue to understand and support the efforts of the Chinese government and people to safeguard China’s national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. Qin Gang also made positive comments on China-Germany cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 and China-European Union (EU) relations, pointing out that China-Germany relations and practical cooperation have not been stalled by the pandemic but rather made new progress in the joint fight against the pandemic.

Qin Gang said, the reunification of East and West Germany 30 years ago has given us a significant historical inspiration, that is, countries should abandon the Cold War mentality and ideological confrontation, and embrace cooperation to achieve common development. Recently, President Xi Jinping successfully has held video meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission and reached important outcomes and consensus, charting the course for China-Germany and China-EU cooperation for the next stage. The Chinese side is willing to, together with the German side and the EU side, act on the principle of mutual respect and mutual benefit to deepen mutual trust and cooperation, properly handle and manage differences, jointly safeguard the fruits of multilateralism and economic globalization, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

German Ambassador to China Clemens von Goetze said, Germany owes its peaceful reunification and development to the effective framework of multilateralism and partnership of mutual trust in the post war era. The German side spoke highly of the mutual support between Germany and China in the joint fight against COVID-19 and is willing to continue to work with the Chinese side to advocate international cooperation against the pandemic. The video meetings which President Xi Jinping held with Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission were successful. The two sides reached important consensuses on cooperation in areas such as the EU-China investment agreement and climate change. The German government attaches great importance to developing its relations with China. Germany will assume its EU rotating presidency for the second half of this year and is therefore willing to play an active role in deepening and expanding EU-China cooperation.