German Chancellor Friedrich Merz watches "WuBot," the robot martial arts performance, as he visited Unitree Robotics in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, on February 26, 2026. Photo: Zhang Yiyi/GT

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited Chinese robotics firm Unitree Robotics in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, on Thursday afternoon, where he watched the robot product displays and robot performances such as "WuBot," (the robot martial arts performance) and robot fights, the Global Times learned on site.

Unitree Robotics founder Wang Xingxing introduced the products to him. The Global Times reporter observed on the spot that Merz picked up a robot component, listened to the introductions and examined it closely.

Unitree is one of China's leading robotics companies, and Hangzhou marks German Chancellor's second stop after Beijing in his two-day visit to China from Wednesday to Thursday. 

Unitree's founder Wang Xingxing said in an interview on Thursday that he felt deeply honored. He described the visit as a window for building more cooperation with German companies and an opportunity to jointly promote the global development of the intelligent robotics industry. 

Wang also said the German market has huge potential and that the strong development trends in intelligent robotics and artificial intelligence will be beneficial both to the industry and to all humanity, according to chinanews.com.cn reported.

According to the Xinhua News Agency reports, Merz was accompanied by a large delegation of German business representatives on his China visit. About 30 senior executives from leading German companies in sectors such as automotive, chemicals, biopharma, machinery manufacturing, and circular economy accompanied the trip, underscoring Germany's strong intent to deepen practical cooperation with China, per Xinhua.