At his meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged him to use the influence that Beijing has on Moscow to push Russia to end the war against Ukraine.

As reports Euractiv, the consultations on Tuesday were the first consultations at this level since the beginning of the full-scale war.

"I have pleaded with the Chinese government again to leverage its influence on Russia more strongly regarding the war. Russia has to withdraw its troops – otherwise, this will not work," Scholz said at a joint press conference.

He added that Beijing should not supply weapons to Russia and that the war in Ukraine should not become a frozen conflict. Scholz further emphasised China’s responsibility as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

The chancellor also touched on other issues, in particular, joint efforts to counter climate change, and also called on China to grant greater freedom to journalists, as well as human rights and workers' rights.

Li Qiang did not directly respond to Scholz's remarks at the briefing.

The topic of Ukraine was raised during the visit to Beijing of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The talks were the first such meeting between the US and China since 2018.

After the meeting, Blinken said China has reaffirmed its promise to not supply Russia with weapons to fight the war in Ukraine.