DPA news agency and several newspapers said Schroeder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, the strongest voice of the ecologist Greens, junior partners in the ruling coalition, had arranged a lunchtime meeting to discuss the controversy.

Government sources confirmed the meeting on what they said was a range of current political issues but declined to discuss the outcome of the talks.

Schroeder has come in for sharp criticism by members of the coalition over apparent plans by the government to approve the export of an atomic energy facility to China by electronics giant Siemens at the same time Germany is phasing out nuclear power.

The Greens, the key force behind Germany's atomic energy pull-out, have demanded formal coalition talks on the 50-million-euro (61-million-dollar) deal, which Schroeder announced during a trip to China this month.

They see political hypocrisy in Germany exporting an energy source deemed too unsafe for its own backyard -- nuclear energy is scheduled to be phased out here by 2020.

While officials insist no decision has been made, Schroeder, who views China as a strategic and booming market, has said he sees no grounds to block the sale.

Fischer, for his part, acknowledged sometimes "bitter decisions" have to be made on foreign trade.

But fellow Greens are angered by what they see as their most vocal member's passivity. "I want to see Fischer fight," legislator Winfried Hermann told the daily Die Welt.

SPD parliamentary group leader Franz Muentefering, a key aide to the chancellor, told German radio Sunday that he saw no contradiction.

"Dismantling atomic energy in Germany was never linked to putting on the pressure worldwide so that no other country can use nuclear power," he said.

He said that "all the members of the cabinet were informed about the export contract in time" and that there was no need for coalition talks over the dispute.

"The Greens have got to work it out among themselves -- it's all a bit of artificial excitement."

Muentefering noted that China had already guaranteed that the plant would only be for civilian use, addressing fears the facility could be used to help produce weapons-grade plutonium.

The plant at Hanau, western Germany, was built by Siemens in 1991 but never went into production, although the technical equipment remains on site.

A previous bid to sell it to Russia collapsed two years ago under pressure from, among others, the Greens.

WAR.WIRE