German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was heavily criticized for his visit to Beijing this week, says Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “persuasion” to oppose the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine was “reason enough” for his trip to China, Reuters writes.

Scholz’s reaction came a day after he visited China, the world’s second-largest economy.

“Because the Chinese government, the president and I were able to say that nuclear weapons should not be used in this war, that alone made the whole visit worthwhile,” Scholz said at the party.

Scholz, who has been criticized for allegedly continuing a strategy that overexposes the German economy to the Chinese market, said diversifying markets is important to limit the possible fallout if relations deteriorate.

“We have a clear plan and we follow it to the end. And that means diversification for all the countries we trade with, especially, of course, for a country that is so big and has such a large share of the world economy,” he said. claimed Scholz.

Germany’s chancellor met with President Xi and the head of the Chinese government in Beijing, saying he had asked Chinese President Xi to use his “influence” with Russia to end its “aggressive war” against Ukraine.

China, officially neutral in the Ukrainian conflict, is, in the opinion of the West, too conciliatory towards Moscow.

Olaf Scholz is the first major world leader to arrive in Beijing since the Communist Party congress that declared Xi Jinping China’s most powerful and authoritarian leader since Mao Zedong.