Maas seeks Sino-German UN security cooperation

Germany and China should work together in the United Nations Security Council to strengthen global security and fight climate change, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Tuesday.

Speaking in Beijing alongside Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Maas said security and climate change were linked and could only be tackled by major powers.

China is a permanent member of the Security Council. Germany is set to take on a two-year seat in 2019.

Dangerous arms

Growing political uncertainty around the world meant that China welcomed Germany's inclusion in the Security Council, Yi said.

Maas said regulating the spread of weapons that use artificial intelligence and advanced robotics was a particularly important challenge for both countries to tackle.

"Arms control is nothing less than an existential question for humanity in the 21st century," he said.

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Plight of the Uighur

The foreign ministers' comments marked the end of Maas' two-day visit to Beijing. On Monday, Maas called for China to be more transparent about the mass detention of a million Uighur Muslims in western China.

Speaking on Tuesday, Yi warned against "listening to gossip or rumor." The camps, he said, were "an important part of the global fight against terrorism." A debate in the German parliament on Uighurs late last week prompted a critical statement from the Chinese Embassy.

amp/msh (dpa, Reuters)

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