Beijing/Tokyo - The battle against global warming is the focal point of German chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to China and Japan. But her hosts in Beijing and Tokyo appear to have a different agenda on their minds.
It is only with difficulty that China's leaders can manage to camouflage their concerns about a sobering of the country's relationship with Germany and Europe, while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is standing with his back against the wall domestically after his recent election defeat.
Even as Abe is more intent on winning the favour of voters than with the climate with his ambitious long-term goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by half by the year 2050, he is certainly on the same wave-length with Merkel.
But it is expected that Merkel will only run into a Great Wall of rejection in Beijing with her intention to rein in China as the world's largest greenhouse gas producer.
China argues that rich Western countries had a duty to reduce their emissions first and points to its comparatively low per- capita output which lies far behind those of industrialized nations, primarily because the country's total emission is statistically spread out across a population of more than one billion.
Meanwhile, China not only feels itself treated unfairly in climate policy issues, but also in its international trade interests.
Growing protectionism against a flood of exports by the world's third-largest trading nation and the recent controversy about unsafe toys and other products "Made in China" have caused considerable irritation in the country.
The European Union has started to speak in more direct terms than in the past, and the previous "China euphoria" has been replaced by a more sober outlook.
As a result, China's leadership at the moment is very aware of the danger of a possible deterioration of relations with other counries.
Faced with this danger, head of state and Communist Party secretary-general chief Hu Jintao and government leader Wen Jiabao have as a result stepped up efforts to particularly improve relations with Germany, China's most important European trade partner.
However, they will not only have to woo Merkel but also Britain's new Prime Minister Gordon Brown and new French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
During a previous visit to Beijing, Merkel, unlike her predecessor and outspoken friend of China, Gerhard Schroeder, displayed a more rational style, but also stressed that open criticism was by no means deterrent to a further development of bilateral relations.
For her latest visit, Merkel is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Monday to commemorate 35 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and to launch a three-year series of events present Germany to the Chinese public.
The occasion will constitute a most welcome opportunity for Beijing to demonstrate close ties with Germany in order to gloss over the existing problems.
"Merkel's visit will strengthen ties," predicted the headlines of China's state-run media.
Meanwhile, Japanese prime minister Abe seems to be less worried by foreign policy issues than by domestic troubles.
After the severe defeat of his coalition during the recent parliamentary election, he is likely to pick up discussion topics with Merkel, who will arrive on Wednesday, that will restore favour with the electorate.
Foremost among these will be the central subject of global warming, a topic which will also be the focus of next year's G-8 summit in northern Japan.
Abe just returned from an official visit to India where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured his government's constructive participation in a post-Kyoto Protocol process.
Meanwhile, Merkel, with her strong environmentalist image, might be well-advised to assert once again before her arrival her interest in Abe's "Cool Earth 50" initiative for a 50 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Japan's media are already heavily preoccupied with the climate issue.
It would be furthermore helpful for Abe if Merkel sided with him in avowing that Japan's engagement in Afghanistan should continue. Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the largest opposition party, has already indicated that he would reject the impending extension of Japan's troop deployment in Afghanistan.
Another important topic for Abe will be the abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea, an issue about which Abe once strongly protested and which essentially helped him to become prime minister.
