German Chancellor Angela Merkel has begun a three-day visit to China. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is holding a welcoming banquet for her.

She made a speech at the Chinese Academy of Science and received a honourary doctorate degree from Nanjing University. Merkel is traveling with six ministers and a large business delegation, including the CEOs of big multinationals like Volkswagen, BMW and Siemens.

Before departing Berlin, Merkel told reporters that Germany is willing to participate in China's ongoing economic structural reform, which she described as important and courageous.