On April 15, 2021, Vice Foreign Minister Qin Gang attended and addressed the breakfast meeting held by the German Chamber of Commerce in China upon invitation, at which he highlighted China-Germany and China-EU relations, and explained China's 14th Five-Year Plan and its new development paradigm.

Qin Gang pointed out that in the face of pandemic prevention and control and economic recovery, China and Germany worked together and withstood various tests. The leaders of the two countries maintained frequent "cloud diplomatic exchanges", supported each other in medical supplies, and carried out efficient "fast track" cooperation on work and production resumption. In 2020, the volume of bilateral trade between China and Germany increased by 4 percent despite the downward trend, making China the largest global trading partner of Germany for five consecutive years. And the negotiations on the China-EU investment agreement concluded on schedule. All these will push the relations and practical cooperation between China and the EU to new heights, and provide greater market access, better business environment, stronger institutional guarantees and brighter prospects of cooperation for future China-EU mutual investment. In the recent phone conversation between President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the two sides stressed the importance of enhancing dialogue, communication and cooperation, providing political guidance for the development of China-Germany and China-EU relations this year.

Qin Gang said that the new development paradigm of dual circulation with the domestic circulation as the mainstay and the domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other proposed in China's 14th Five-Year Plan is a strategic option consistent with the changes of China's economic development and responsive to the changes of the international development environment. A development paradigm of "dual circulation" is by no means a closed domestic loop, but to implement open-up policies in a wider scope, broader areas and at a deeper level. To this end, China will exert the advantages of its super-large market, attract global product and resource elements based on domestic circulation, increase openness and cooperation, and tighten its connection and interaction with the global economy to improve the efficiency and level of domestic circulation. Foreign companies and investors focusing on the Chinese market are market entities of China's domestic circulation, and the new development paradigm will provide more opportunities for foreign companies including those from Germany. He welcomes German companies to increase investment in China and board the express train of China's new round of high-quality development and high-standard opening up.

Qin Gang listened to the specific appeals of German companies about their cooperation with China and their opinions and suggestions about how to deepen China-Germany cooperation. He and the responsible officers from competent departments of the Foreign Ministry, National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce attending the meeting answered their questions about China's business environment and the facilitation of personnel exchanges amid the pandemic.