By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BERLIN/BEIJING (Worthy News) – Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz has urged Chinese president Xi Jinping to back efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Ukraine amid concerns about China’s cooperation with Russia.
In their first phone call since he took office last month, Merz told Xi about “the common efforts of Europe and the EU to bring about a quick ceasefire in Ukraine“ and urged China to “support these efforts,” officials said.
According to the official Chinese readout of the call, Xi called for “stable and predictable ties” between the two countries.
Xi also “pointed out that the world today is undergoing accelerated changes unseen in a century, with the convergence of changes and chaos in the international situation.
The two leaders also reportedly discussed the need for “fair competition” in their economic relations.
However, Ukraine was high on the agenda as China has a strategic agreement with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
BRIGADE IN LITHUANIA
Friday’s talks came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his Defense Minister Boris Pistorius attended a ceremony to mark the start of Germany’s first permanent foreign troop deployment since the Second World War.
In Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, on Thursday, they oversaw the launch of a new armored brigade aimed at protecting the NATO military alliance’s eastern flank against a perceived aggressive Russia.
As a crowd waved Lithuanian, German, and Ukrainian flags, the government officials watched the official formation of an armored brigade.
The new heavy combat unit, the 45th Tank Brigade, will comprise 4,800 German soldiers and 200 civilian staff.
It was announced in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine and is due to reach full operational capacity by 2027, authorities announced.
The German operation marked a dramatic policy shift for a nation reluctant to permanently deploy troops outside its territory due to its war history.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Mossad Director David Barnea said Tuesday that Israel bears a responsibility to ensure Iran never restarts its nuclear program, six months after Israeli and U.S. strikes severely damaged Tehran’s atomic facilities during a 12-day war.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a proclamation significantly expanding the United States’ travel ban, barring individuals traveling on Palestinian Authority–issued passports from entering the country and imposing full or partial restrictions on dozens of additional nations, the White House announced.
Chilean voters on Sunday delivered a decisive victory to conservative lawmaker José Antonio Kast, electing him president in what is being described as the country’s most sweeping political shift since its return to democracy in 1990. Kast defeated Communist candidate Jeannette Jara by a wide margin, campaigning on restoring public security, enforcing immigration laws, and reviving economic growth.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says proposals negotiated with U.S. officials on a peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine could be finalized within days, after which American envoys would present them to the Kremlin. The announcement came ahead of the establishment of the International Claims Commission for Ukraine in The Hague, which will seek compensation from Russia for Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.
Residents mourned and counted the cost Tuesday as Moroccan authorities confirmed that at least 37 people were killed after torrential rain and flash floods inundated about 70 homes and businesses in the coastal city of Safi, in what officials described as the deadliest such disaster in Morocco in at least a decade.
With Christmas approaching, thousands of Christians, many of them from Indigenous communities, marched near Mexico’s southern border “to thank God” for decades of relative peace in the Mexican state of Chiapas, despite reported acts of violence in recent years.
Jewish communities worldwide are impacted by one of the deadliest terror attacks against Jews outside Israel in decades, when gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, killing 15 people, Worthy News established Monday.