Berlin-Beijing relations are becoming increasingly fragile.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Friday postponed an imminent diplomatic trip to China, over a dearth of meetings on his schedule.

"The trip cannot take place at this time and will be postponed to a later date," said a spokesperson for Germany's Federal Foreign Office. With the exception of a sitdown with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, there were not enough meetings with the Beijing side on his agenda, the spokesperson added.

Wadephul's bombshell will likely roil relations between Berlin and Beijing. It comes amid an increasing deterioration of Germany-China relations in recent months over Beijing's export curbs on rare earths and microchips, as well as German criticism over China's posture toward Taiwan and behavior in the South China Sea.

A few hours earlier, German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche announced that Berlin was lodging a diplomatic protest against China for blocking semiconductor shipments. "We have been hit hard by the chip shortage because the German economy depends on these chips," she said in Kyiv.

In August, Wadephul also noted that China was providing "crucial" support to Russia that enabled President Vladimir Putin's ongoing war against Ukraine.

The foreign minister was originally scheduled to depart for China on Sunday. Wadephul had planned to press Beijing to ease export restrictions on rare earths and semiconductors, he told Reuters on Thursday — and discuss pushing Russia toward negotiations to end its war in Ukraine.

Brussels, for its part, is pressing ahead in talks with Beijing.

The European Commission on Friday told reporters that it “can confirm that both in-person and virtual high-level technical meetings will take place next week” after the bloc's Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič spoke to his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on Tuesday.

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