Sino-German thaw

The meeting of six foreign ministers in Berlin to discuss Iran's nuclear program has given China and Germany a chance to mend relations. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi is meeting his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the sidelines of the meeting.

China's relations with Germany are less essential to the world order than its ties with the US and Japan.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting with the Dalai Lama last year pushed Sino-German relations back a step, with all high-level contact suspended.