German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Peking University in Beijing, where he delivered a speech, was made honorary professor, met the students, and played table tennis.

Steinmeier is paying a state visit to China from October 27 to 31, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In his speech, Steinmeier called on Germany and China to continue building mutually beneficial trade ties and seeking solutions through dialogue, noting that Europe does not want to decouple from China.

"There are many differences between China and Germany, but one thing we share is that both countries' economies rely on strong export capabilities, and anyone who wants to succeed in the global market needs to have essential predictability and reliability," said the German leader. 

These can only be achieved under rules that all parties respect. Therefore, I firmly believe that this is both our responsibility and in line with our own interests to protect and strengthen the rules-based international order," he added.

The German president also joined a table tennis game on campus. China and Germany have a long history of cooperation in the sport, with regular exchanges aimed at strengthening ties and sharing skills.

German students at Peking University welcomed the German president's visit.

"I have a very good impression. I was very happy to see many other politicians besides the president who came here. I think the deepest impression is probably the history between PKU and Germany. I wasn't aware there's so much of a deep connection between both institutions," said Konstantin Garbers, a German student. 

"As an AI researcher myself, I was very happy to hear that the president is also taking AI safety matters seriously," added Garbers.

Leander Zaiser, another German student, said that Steinmeier's visit filled him with  "hope." 

"I feel like the cooperation between China and Germany has really been shown today. I feel really moved by the fact that my country's president was invited here to speak to us, to speak to the Chinese and the German students today," said Zaiser "I'm very happy that he was awarded with the honorary professor title."

This is Steinmeier's first visit to China in nearly eight years. He visited China several times while serving as German foreign minister. Beijing is the second stop of his ongoing visit.

He began his trip in east China's Anhui Province on Tuesday and paid a visit to a research and development center built by German car manufacturer Volkswagen, where he emphasized that technologies developed in China could also benefit Germany and Europe.