Military honours for Chinese premier at Berlin talks (2nd Lead)

Jan 29, 2009, 11:25 GMT

Berlin - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was welcomed with military honours in Berlin Thursday during a busy day of talks on boosting two-way trade between the world's top two exporter nations.

The salute from German soldiers was part of the pageantry marking a mid-winter day that also included signings of six agreements.

About 60 Tibetan demonstrators outside Chancellor Angela Merkel's office shouted and waved flags and placards as Wen's motorcade arrived for the ceremony.

They asked Merkel to press Wen to engage in full talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Merkel had met earlier in the day for breakfast with Wen, with both sides setting out plans to boost trade, aides said.

Other senior ministers who met with Wen included Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Economics Minister Michael Glos and Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

In a sign of the improved relations between the world's two biggest exporters, Merkel and Wen said their two countries should develop closer economic ties.

The one-day stop in Germany is the second stage of a European tour that took the Chinese leader to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum in Davos, and will see him travel to European Union headquarters in Brussels as well as to Spain and Britain.

The six agreements set out for signing by officials and business leaders in Wen's presence included one on the two governments cooperating over climate change.

North Rhine Westphalia state agreed terms for Sany, a manufacturer of cranes, concrete pumps and other construction machinery, to expand, and there was also a deal on expanding a German-designed magnetic-levitation rail system, the Transrapid, in China.

Daimler signed a contract with Beiqi Foton Motor Co., there was an accord with the model business city of Xuzho, and German museums agreed to send an exhibition to Beijing about Enlightenment art.

The two leaders were due to hold a joint press conference before taking part in a session of the German-Chinese Forum for Economic and Technological Cooperation.

Relations between Germany and China have improved since a spat in 2007 when Merkel met the Dalai Lama at her office in Berlin.

The chancellor held talks with the Chinese premier when she visited China in October last year to take part in the biannual Asia- Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Beijing.

Government sources said Merkel would use the Berlin talks to raise controversial issues such as China's treatment of anti-government dissidents and infringements of intellectual property rights.

On foreign policy issues, the talks were expected to cover Iran's controversial nuclear programme, the situation in North Korea and the conflicts in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

From Berlin, Wen travels to Brussels for talks with the European Commission that were cancelled by Beijing in November, following a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who then held the rotating EU presidency, and the Dalai Lama.