Beijing is willing to work with Berlin on the economic and trade fronts, and the two countries are partners, not adversaries, Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, said on Friday.

Qin, addressing a joint news conference with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, said artificially putting the brakes on normal economic and trade cooperation would be counter-productive.

Remarking on the Taiwan situation, Qin said if countries want to respect the One-China principle, then the proper move is to resolutely oppose “Taiwan independence”.

On the issue of Ukraine, Qin said Beijing was willing to continue to work for peace and hoped that all parties involved in the crisis would remain objective and calm and work together.

"One point I want to emphasise is that China's role in the Ukraine issue, our proposition, boils down to one point, that is, to persuade and promote talks, and we will not do anything to add fuel to the fire," Qin said.

He also stressed that Beijing adopts a "prudent and responsible" attitude when it comes to the export of military items.

"China will not provide weapons to relevant parties of the conflict, and manage and control the exports of dual-use items in accordance with laws and regulations,” he added. (Reuters/AP)