China Ready To Cooperate With Germany's New Government

JAKARTA - China has stated that it is ready to cooperate with Germany's new government led by a conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU/CSU), which won the federal election in Germany.

"China is ready to cooperate with the new German federal government to consolidate and develop China-German comprehensive strategic partnerships," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference in Beijing on Monday, February 24, reported by ANTARA.

The conservative opposition German Party, the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU/CSU), took the lead in the German federal election which took place on Sunday (23/2) by winning nearly 28.5 percent of the vote, securing a clear advantage over other parties.

"Germany and the European Union have global significance. China is pleased to see Germany and the EU play an important role in global affairs, support European integration and EU strategic independence and we are ready to work closely with Germany and the EU to continue to contribute to world peace and prosperity," continued Lin Jian.

During the last 53 years of diplomatic relations, said lin Jian, China has viewed its relationship with Germany from a strategic and long-term perspective.

"China develops bilateral relations based on the principle of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and seek common ground while putting aside differences," said Lin Jian.

CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz has delivered his victory remarks by affirming the importance of forming a stable coalition government as soon as possible in order to directly address domestic challenges, strengthen Germany's position in Europe, and restore international trust.

Merz also expressed criticism of the US by conveying its top priority is to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that it can reach, step by step, true independence from the US.

Merz's remarks came after tensions between the Trump administration and the European government in recent weeks.

US Vice President JD Vance sparked controversy earlier this month when in a speech at the Munich Security Conference, he criticized the European government and political parties for taking a stand against right-wing populists, excluding them from political proceedings.

However, CDU/CSU do not get enough votes to govern themselves, so they need to develop a government coalition.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) faces a historic defeat in the election, which is projected to receive 16.3 percent -- the lowest percentage of votes for the centre-left party since 1949.

Meanwhile, the alternative party for Germany (AfD) with extreme right direction managed to outperform the SPD after getting 20.4 percent of the vote, up double the previous election. The election results show that AFD is now the second largest political force in Germany.

Green Party led by foreign minister Annalena Baerbock is estimated to get 12.3 percent of the vote, down 2.4 points percent compared to the previous election.

The Left Party (Die Linke) with a socialist direction surprisingly got 8.5 percent of the vote.

However, the election results have not been able to show which potential partners can form a government with CDU/CSU, because two other parties, the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the populist left-handed Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party, are threatened with failing to enter parliament.