Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday met with Lars Klingbeil, head of German Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Xinhua News Agency reported. Li said that as an important part of China-Germany relations, inter-party exchanges are of far-reaching significance for the two countries as they strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation.

China attaches great importance to bilateral relations and cooperation with Germany, Li said.

As the world's major powers, it is important for the two countries to stay true to their original aspiration of cooperation and strengthen dialogue and cooperation to shore up stability and certainty of the world, Li said.

He said the fruitful economic and trade cooperation between China and Germany in the past decades has not only promoted the complementary advantages and common development of the two countries, but has also brought tangible benefits to the two peoples.

China welcomes more German companies to come and invest in China, and China will continue to expand market access, strengthen intellectual property rights protection, and foster a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment, said the Chinese premier.

China is willing to work with Germany to maintain the stability of the world's industrial supply chain. "We hope that the SPD will play an important role in Germany and Europe, maintain the general tone of its China policy featuring rationality, dialogue and cooperation, and promote the stable and healthy development of China-Germany and China-EU relations," Li said.

Klingbeil said Germany is actively preparing for the seventh round of inter-governmental consultations between the two nations, and he is looking forward to fruitful results.

Both countries share a common responsibility for the future of bilateral relations. Germany appreciates China's continued opening-up and believes that so-called "decoupling" is not an option for Germany-China relations, Klingbeil said.

China remained Germany's most important trading partner for the seventh consecutive year in 2022, and Germany is China's largest trading partner, the largest source of foreign investment and an important investment destination in Europe, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

Chinese data reveal that German investment in China soared by 52.8 percent in 2022, reaching $2.57 billion.

Recently, German carmaker BMW has increased its investment in its Chinese joint venture, German chemicals giant BASF has planned an integrated production base in Zhanjiang, South China's Guangdong Province, while Audi announced its first battery-electric vehicle project in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin Province.