Usually when leaders make state visits they deal with economic and political ties and how they might be strengthened. They usually don't schedule a state visit as part of a propaganda campaign against a nation they are having a diplomatic row with.
China's Premier Xi Jinping is proposing just that. He would like his upcoming trip in March to Germany focused on World War II and how the Germans dealt with defeat of the Third Reich and the Holocaust. One small problem the Germans would rather that he did not.
"China wants a strong focus on World War Two when Xi visits Germany and Germany is not happy," said one diplomatic source who has been briefed on China's plans for the Xi trip.
The German government declined to comment. But the diplomatic sources said Germany did not want to get dragged into the dispute between China and Japan, and dislikes China constantly bringing up Germany's painful past.
A second diplomatic source with knowledge of the trip said China had proposed Xi visit the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. When that was immediately rejected by Germany, Beijing suggested Xi go to Berlin's Neue Wache Memorial, which honors war dead but not recognized war criminals.
"The Holocaust is a no go area," the source said, adding it was unclear if the Neue Wache Memorial visit would go ahead.
Germany does not want the negative legacy of the war to dominate or take centre stage during a state visit, the source added, explaining the objection to the Holocaust Memorial visit.
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