Paris  - The crisis provoked by the Irish rejection of the EU

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is to undertake a three-day trip to China later this week, his spokesman announced Wednesday.

On Friday, at the start of the trip, Steinmeierr is to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, discussing the working conditions for journalists, particularly during the Olympic Games being hosted by Beijing in August.

The foreign minister is also to visit Sichuan Province, which was devastated by an earthquake on May 12, to assess the work of German aid organizations, spokesman Martin Jaeger said.

Berlin  - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Moroccan counterpart Taieb Fassi Fihri discussed the slow progress in peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians when they met in Berlin Tuesday.

Steinmeier said there was still a chance the two sides could come to a framework agreement this year in line with the Annapolis process initiated by US President George W Bush in November last year.

An agreement would not have to resolve all outstanding issues but had to outline the process towards reaching a two-state solution.

Straubing, Germany - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter

Freiburg, Germany - Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinm

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called Monday for accelerated efforts to integrate Europe's armed forces.

The final goal should be a European army, he told a security conference organized by his Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Berlin.

The foreign minister said the Lisbon treaty on reforming the European Union allowed for individual members or groups to adopt a fast-track position on matters of defence and foreign policy.