Preparations for a landmark German-Chinese business conference in China next April have suffered delays, in what organisers suspect could be the first sign of an economic backlash from the deteriorating relationship between the two countries.

The Chinese government has warned that bilateral exchanges could continue to suffer unless Berlin acted to improve the “political atmosphere” damaged by the September meeting between Angela Merkel, German chancellor, and the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.