Stand near the runway at Frankfurt airport any evening and you can be in no doubt about the strength of German exporters' trading relationship with China.

Lufthansa, the national carrier, says passenger numbers on its China routes in the first 10 months were up almost 60 per cent on last year, and almost 20 per cent compared with 2002 (which was not affected by Sars and the Iraq war). The fastest growth has been in first and business class.