German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday called for fair competition in trade relations with China, while also urging the European Union not to act out of protectionist self-interest.

“The one thing that must always be clear is that competition must be fair,” Scholz, who's on a three-day visit to China, told students at Tongji University in Shanghai, according to German news agency dpa.

"In other words, that there is no dumping, that there is no overproduction, that copyrights are not infringed.

“Of course we would like our companies to have no restrictions, but conversely we behave exactly how we are demanding here.”

Scholz is expected to raise the issue of fair competition at a meeting with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday.

The German chancellor also made comparisons to reservations years ago when Japanese and Korean automakers entered the German market.

“There was great agitation in the newspapers: ‘Now the Japanese cars will come and clean up’... nonsense,” he told the Tongji University students.

He said there are German cars in China that were made with Chinese manufacturers, and at some point there would also be Chinese cars in Germany and Europe.

The European Union is mulling tariffs to protect its producers against Chinese electric vehicle imports. But the head of Germany’s auto industry association, the VDA, expressed opposition to such tariffs ahead of Scholz’s visit.

Hildegard Müller told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper the tariffs would not help the European and German auto industries and instead “could quickly have a negative effect in a trade conflict.” (Agencies)