Business Insider reports that her visit comes amid growing worries among German companies over obstacles they face in doing business with China.

‘It is important to have a secure juridical environment. The secure status of law is important in a large number of fields,’ Merkel said in front of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and reporters.

A clampdown on critics

She and other world leaders are under pressure to push for reform in China amid concern over the recent clampdown on critics of the government and the rise in regulatory enforcement, which has included placing the management of NGOs under the national police rather than the civil affairs ministry. Foreign officials including US Secretary of State John Kerry have said that could expose them to undue scrutiny and harm overall people-to-people exchanges.