By Mei Mei Chu
BEIJING, Oct 30 (Reuters) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed the need for China to help preserve the international order during talks with President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday, where Xi called on both countries to help forge a more equitable and stable system of global governance.
In opening remarks at their meeting, Xi expressed keenness on what he called an "all-dimensional strategic partnership" between both countries. Xi also told Steinmeier that it was incumbent upon their countries to lead and forge a new model of cooperation based on equality, mutual benefit and strategic stability.
"This new paradigm sends a positive signal to the world: we favour openness over closure, and cooperation over confrontation," Xi, who also hailed relations between Beijing and Berlin as being at the start of a new chapter, said.
Steinmeier, who is on a five-day visit to China until October 31, told Xi that the world needed China to play its part in preserving the international order, referring to the rules-based global governance system based on the UN Charter.
"We both bear responsibility for the international order and for the conditions under which states in this world maintain and shape their relations," he said.
(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Writing by Liz Lee; Editing by Alison Williams, William Maclean)