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China eyes stabilising role in call with Germany's Angela Merkel

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Shanghai: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for China and Germany to play a leading role to ensure the stability of international markets amid an "uncertain" global political and economic climate, the official Xinhua news agency said late on Wednesday.

During a call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Chinese premier said "international political and economic scenes are facing several uncertain factors," Xinhua reported.

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"China and Germany should send stable signals to the global markets and jointly safeguard the existing international system through trade and investment liberalisation," Xinhua said, citing Li.

Amid a turbulent start by new US President Donald Trump, whose first days have been marked by media feuds and protests, China has been playing up its role as a steadying force from global trade to climate change.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, as a keynote speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, also offered a vigorous defence of globalisation and signalled Beijing's desire to play a bigger role on the world stage.

Meanwhile, Trump, who took office last Friday, has already signed an order withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and threatened trade curbs, including a border tax on cars that Germany's BMW plans to build at a new factory in Mexico.

Li also said China would continue as a "staunch supporter" of European integration, amid growing pressure on the bloc following a referendum vote in Britain last year to leave the European Union. Trump has said Brexit could be a "great thing".

Reuters