He really means the question of how to deal with Iran. China has a very, very important role to play -- in case of a vote in the UN Security Council, for example. Getting China to actively cooperate with the West in this respect is an important goal.

It has implications for the functions of the BND. We do depend in some areas of the world on international cooperation with other secret services, and being dragged into the limelight of public debate is not really helpful.