BEIJING, Aug 27: China poses no threat to Germany or any other nation, Premier Wen Jiabao told visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the pair met for over an hour on Monday.“China’s development is an opportunity, not a threat,” Wen told a joint press conference with Merkel as he briefed reporters on their discussions.

Wen said people who feared China’s rapid rise on the world stage needed to understand that the nation was still developing, and that it was struggling with problems such as poverty and population growth.

“We have decades of work ahead before we can be even a moderately well-developed country,” Wen said, adding that China’s intentions globally were pure.

“China will always take the peaceful road. China is very happy to cooperate with all nations but will never threaten... so it’s clear, everyone please be at ease, there is no such thing as the ‘China Threat Theory.’” Critics of China have voiced concern in recent years that its economic, political and military rise poses an increasing threat to the rest of the world.

Angela Merkel raised human rights and other sensitive issues with China’s leaders, while bluntly telling them to respect the rules of international trade and development.

Merkel’s talks with Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao focused on building trade ties between the world’s third and fourth biggest economies, but she made it clear that controversial matters should not be ignored.

“I discussed human rights in my talks with the leaders,” Merkel told reporters after her first official meetings of a three-day trip to China.

“I pointed out that especially with the Olympic Games coming up (in Beijing next year), the world will be looking at China with increased scrutiny.” China’s communist rulers have already come under pressure in recent weeks from human rights groups and other activists around the world hoping to use the Olympic spotlight to raise public awareness about their causes.

China’s support of the government in Sudan, which is accused of helping to carry out genocide in its Darfur region, is one particularly high-profile issue receiving much attention.

After a one-hour meeting with Wen, Merkel said she had also made it clear that “every country has the right to development,” but that rules do apply.

“At present there are a great many large countries such as China that are developing fast and there is a need to respect the rules of the game,” she told reporters. Raising temperatures further, German weekly Der Spiegel reported ahead of Merkel’s visit that Chinese hackers had penetrated government computer systems in Berlin.

While not directly confirming the reports, Merkel said she told Wen during their talks that solid ties depended on “mutual respect”.—AFP