On the night of December 1, Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council held a phone conversation with German Prime Minister Angela Merkel to congratulate her on taking up the post of German Prime Minister and exchange views with her on furthering bilateral friendly cooperative relations. Both sides indicated that they will make joint efforts to push for continuous development of bilateral relations.

Wen made positive comments on the fruitful achievements both sides have scored in broad areas of bilateral relations, as well as sound coordination and collaboration they have conducted in international affairs in recent years. He pointed out that President Hu Jintao's state visit to Germany not long ago has achieved substantive results, which has promoted further development of bilateral relations.

Wen reaffirmed that the Chinese government will as always attach great importance to developing relations with Germany. He hoped that both sides will continue to maintain high-level exchanges, strengthen political dialogue and consultations and actively push for cooperation in the areas of economy & trade, science & technology, education, culture and environmental protection. He expressed belief that with the joint efforts by both sides, bilateral partnership of global responsibility will continuously bear new fruits.

Merkel expressed full agreement with Wen's views on bilateral relations. She emphasized that the new German government resolutely pursues the one-China policy and hopes to steadily expand and deepen cooperation with China in various areas along the track of smooth development of bilateral relations in recent years. She also indicated that she looked forward to visiting China next year and witnessing with her own eyes the great changes taking place there.