Foreign minister first to visit Pasch school and a German company producing wind turbines

Germany's government appealed for efforts to reduce tensions over Taiwan as the German foreign minister arrived in China on Thursday for official talks following Chinese military exercises near the self-governed island democracy that Beijing claims is part of its territory.

Annalena Baerbock arrived in the northeastern port city of Tianjin for meetings and was due to hold talks with her Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang, on Friday in Beijing and with senior diplomat Wang Yi on Saturday. Her ministry said she would discuss Taiwan, Ukraine, human rights and other issues with Chinese officials.

China's ruling Communist Party sent warships and fighter planes near Taiwan last weekend in retaliation for a meeting between U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the island's president, Tsai Ing-wen.

"Threatening military gestures" increase "the risk of unintentional military confrontations," a spokesperson for Baerbock's ministry, Andrea Sasse, said in Berlin.