German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will pay a state visit to China from December 5 to 10 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang announced on Thursday.

It will be Steinmeier's first state visit to China since he took office. During his visit, he is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi and Premier Li Keqiang for separate talks and meetings on China-Germany and China-Europe relations and other issues of common concerns in Beijing.

Apart from that, Steinmeier will also visit Southeast China's Guangdong Province and Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Lu noted that Sino-German relations have maintained a high level of development momentum this year. Premier Li and German Chancellor Angela Merkel jointly attended the symposium of the China-Germany Economic Advisory Committee in Beijing on May 24. 

On July 9, Li and Merkel co-chaired the fifth round of intergovernmental consultations in Berlin, agreeing to unequivocally oppose protectionism and safeguard free trade system based on multilateral rules to promote strong, sustainable and balanced global economic growth.

The visit of Steinmeier to China has reflected the close relationship between China and Germany, especially in the high-level exchanges, Lu said. He added that the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy, trade and investment has achieved fruitful results and their bilateral trade volume is expected to hit a record high this year.