Hamburg  - A Chinese vice-premier, Zhang Dejiang, was visiting Germany Wednesday, the first high-level visit since China's controversial crackdown in Tibet this year.

Zhang had talks in the port city of Hamburg with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Both also toured the Airbus factory in the city where giant airliners are wired up and painted and attended the start of a two- day business meeting dubbed the Hamburg Summit which is held every two years.

Over the next two weeks, Hamburg will be holding cultural events marking the 22nd anniversary of its twin-city agreement with the Chinese city of Shanghai.

A German human rights group, the Society for Threatened Peoples, criticized the Zhang visit, charging that as a senior official he was associated with humans-rights breaches in Shanghai.

Earlier this year the German media was critical of China's actions in Tibet and Steinmeier phoned Beijing to voice concerns and urge talks with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans' spiritual leader. Steinmeier visited Beijing in June. (dpa)