China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons in Europe in talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The international community must "collectively reject the use of and the threat of nuclear weapons," he said on Friday, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Together we must work to "prevent a nuclear crisis in Asia and Europe".

Friederike Böge

Political correspondent for China, North Korea and Mongolia.

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Xi also said all sides must exercise "rationality and restraint and establish direct contacts as soon as possible to create the conditions for negotiations to resume."

These were the most concrete statements made by the Chinese head of state on this issue.

Scholz had previously stated that he wanted to address the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine when speaking to Xi.

The hope was that Xi would convey to Russian President Vladimir Putin that China's use of nuclear weapons was unacceptable.

He had repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons, which his spokesman appeased with reference to Russian doctrine.

According to the Chinese releases, Xi and Scholz also discussed the need to avoid an international food and energy crisis.

Regarding ties with Germany, China's top leader said it is "easy to destroy political trust, but difficult to rebuild it." Both sides must accept each other's "core interests".

From a Chinese perspective, these include Taiwan and Xinjiang.

On the economic front, Xi has shown interest in cooperation in aviation, artificial intelligence, renewable energy and digitalization, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

It was released hours after the conversation, while Scholz met Premier Li Keqiang.

If only because he left the Central Committee at the party congress in October, the Chancellor's second meeting was of unorganized importance.

After the meeting with Li, Scholz said in a statement to journalists that the governments in Beijing and Berlin agreed that Russian threats with nuclear weapons were unacceptable.

With their use, Russia would cross a red line that the countries of the world would have drawn together.

Premier Li said that China, together with Germany, hopes for an "early end" to the war in Ukraine.

"We cannot afford any further escalation," he said.

Both sides should be persuaded to engage in peace talks.

Journalists' questions were not allowed after Li and Scholz's statements.