Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger took part in the plenary session at the Federal Chancellery together with representatives of all the participating ministries from Germany and China. On the eve of the consultations, State Secretary Prof. Dr Sabine Döring held talks at the BMBF with Vice Minister Prof. Dr Zhang Guangjun of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Vice Minister Prof. Dr Chen Jie of the Ministry of Education.

Both sides agreed that cooperation in education and research is an important basis of bilateral cooperation between Germany and China and builds on a broad foundation of existing collaborations. The BMBF signalled a readiness for dialogue while stressing that there is currently only limited scope for new collaborations given that the conditions for scientific collaborations are becoming more difficult. The following points were emphasized:

• Freedom in research and teaching was cited as a basic condition for successful cooperation in all international collaborations. In this context it was made clear that the imposition of sanctions against individual European scientists and institutions is interpreted by the BMBF as a reduced willingness by China to engage fully in cooperation. The difficult conditions relating to scholarships of the China Scholarship Council (CSC) were also raised.
• The BMBF emphasized that the peaceful and full and equitable use of jointly achieved research results and the free transfer and exchange of research data form further central bases of cooperation.
• In addition, the BMBF made it clear that legal certainty is needed for joint and responsible science collaborations, both for German institutions that cooperate with Chinese partner institutions in China and for German scientists and academics who carry out research on China.
• Furthermore, the BMBF made reference to the Joint Roadmap for the future of EU-China cooperation in science, technology and innovation as a good basis for the design of dependable framework conditions and pointed out that progress in the currently stalled negotiations with the EU Commission would greatly assist further cooperation.

The BMBF expressed its desire that China enable substantial improvements in the framework conditions for cooperation in order to make reliable collaborations possible again in the future.

At the same time, the BMBF reaffirmed its willingness for continued dialogue: The global challenges cannot be solved by individual players – international science cooperation is indispensable for this. The BMBF therefore proposed the holding of workshops for the exchange of knowledge in research and vocational training to the two Chinese partner ministries under the motto “Acting together sustainably” and invited the Chinese research ministry to the next meeting of the Joint Committee on Scientific-Technological Cooperation, to be held this time in Germany. The desire for more mobility, particularly also in relation to German students and (young) scientists going to China was reaffirmed by both sides.