German chancellor heads to China

29 August 2012 Last updated at 20:06 ET Help

China will welcome the German chancellor Angela Merkel to the capital Beijing later today, for the second time this year.

German officials say they plan to discuss a wide range of issues including energy, climate and cultural links - and the euro.

The chancellor will also be accompanied by a large business delegation that includes top executives from Germany's blue chip firms like Siemens, Volkswagen and EADS, the parent company of Airbus.

Bilateral trade between Germany and China totalled about $180bn last year, nearly double the levels five years ago.

And China aims to boost that figure to $280bn by 2015.

From Beijing - BBC's Martin Patience reports.

BBC © 2013 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.