of the ban on importing Lithuanian goods to components in integrated supply chains as a “devastating own goal.” Trade Germany is China's biggest trading partner and technology exporter in Europe. China is Germany's largest trading partner, superseding the United States since 2017. The trade volume between China and Germany surpassed 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2008. By 2014 German Chancellor Angela Merkel had visited China on trade missions seven times since assuming office in 2005, underlining the importance of China to the German economy. In 2018, Mercedes-Benz apologized to China for quoting the Dalai Lama on Instagram. Huawei, a major Chinese tech company, has collaborated with Porsche Design, a German design company in developing their Porsche Design Huawei Smartwatch GT 2 Human rights criticisms Hong Kong national security law In June 2020, Germany openly opposed the Hong Kong national security law On 6 October 2020, Germany's ambassador to the UN, on behalf of the group of 39 countries including Germany, the U.K. and the U.S., made a statement to denounce China for its treatment of ethnic minorities and for curtailing freedoms in Hong Kong. Resident diplomatic missions China has an embassy in Berlin and consulates-general in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. Germany has an embassy in Beijing and consulates-general in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenyang. See also China–European Union relations East Asia Squadron, Germany naval operations based in China to 1914 References Further reading Albers, Martin. "Business with Beijing, détente with Moscow: West Germany's China policy in a global context, 1969–1982." Cold War History 14.2 (2014): 237–257. Bernier, Lucie. "Christianity and the Other: Friedrich Schlegel's and F.W.J. Schelling's Interpretation of China." International Journal of Asian Studies 2.2 (2005): 265–273. Chen, Zhong Zhong. "Defying Moscow: East German-Chinese relations during the Andropov-Chernenko interregnum, 1982–1985." Cold War History 14.2 (2014): 259–280. Cho, Joanne Miyang, and David M. Crowe, eds. Germany and China: Transnational Encounters since the Eighteenth Century (2014) online review Depner, Heiner, and Harald Bathelt. "Exporting the German model: the establishment of a new automobile industry cluster in Shanghai." Economic Geography 81.1 (2005): 53-81 online. Dijk, Kees van. Pacific Strife: The Great Powers and their Political and Economic Rivalries in Asia and the Western Pacific 1870-1914 (2015) Eberspaecher, Cord. "Arming the Beiyang Navy. Sino-German Naval Cooperation." International Journal of Naval History (2009) online. Fox, John P. "Max Bauer: Chiang Kai-shek's first German military adviser." Journal of Contemporary History 5.4 (1970):