On November 19, 2009, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun held talks in the Foreign Ministry with Cornelia Pieper, visiting Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

Both sides made positive comments on China-Germany relations. Zhang said that the Chinese government attaches great importance to ties with Germany and is ready to work with the new German government to push bilateral ties to make even greater development on the existing basis. Pieper said that the new German government gives top priority to ties with China and will continue adhering to a positive policy to China and deepen cooperation with China in all areas.

Pieper paid her visit to China from November 16 to 20 at the invitation of Vice Foreign Minister Zhang. This is Pieper's first foreign visit as Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. During her visit, Pieper met respectively with Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang, Vice Minister of Education Hao Ping and Vice Minister of Culture Zhao Shaohua. She also went to Shanghai to visit the Expo site and to Nanjing to inaugurate the Germany-China vocational education conference.