China, Germany to safeguard multilateralism and free trade rules

China and Germany both uphold multilateralism, rule-based free trade, and trade liberalization and investment facilitation, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday.

Li said world peace and regional stability should be cherished to ensure prosperity for all countries. Li called for an expansion in bilateral investment with Germany in a more inclusive way as China opens its door even wider.

China supports European integration and hopes the EU can stride toward prosperity with internal solidarity, which is beneficial to multilateralism and China's interests, Li said. There is great potential for China-German cooperation for higher-level exchanges, he said.

Facing opportunities brought by a new round of technological revolution, both countries can deepen cooperation in areas such as self driving, Li said.

German automakers are welcome to invest in China, which has lowered the shareholding ratio for foreign companies in new energy vehicles, he said.