Two weeks ago, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner was uninvited by his Chinese counterpart. The Chinese Ministry of Finance asked for a postponement of the date at very short notice for "scheduling reasons" Speculation that the Chinese leadership had wanted to punish Lindner because his party colleague, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, had traveled to Taiwan in March.
Lindner himself had criticized China's stance on Russia's war against Ukraine and called for human rights issues to be openly addressed with China.