German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has urged China to use its influence on Russia to stop the war in Ukraine, during talks with President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Mr Scholz said both countries had agreed Russia’s nuclear threats were “irresponsible and highly dangerous”.

The Chinese president has refused to condemn Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

But he said the global community should back bids to end the crisis peacefully and oppose the use or threatened use of nuclear arms, Chinese reports said.

Reporting on the two leaders’ conclusions, China’s foreign ministry did not quote President Xi as using the words “irresponsible” or “highly dangerous”.

The trip has sparked concern in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, after the Chinese leader recently cemented his grip on power.

Mr Scholz’s visit to China is both short, at just 11 hours, and controversial.

He’s the first Western leader to travel to Beijing since the global pandemic and the first to meet President Xi since he tightened his grip on power at the Communist Party National Congress last month.

The timing is seen as highly questionable by many in Europe – including members of Mr Scholz’s own government, who worry that his presence will serve to burnish the domestic reputation of an increasingly authoritarian Mr Xi.

But the German chancellor, like his predecessor Angela Merkel, argues that global problems can only be solved through co-operation with China. Meeting face to face, he said, facilitated discussion, even of issues over which both countries strongly disagree.