"I would have liked it to be different but we could not change it," Scholz's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told a regular government press conference.
The German chancellor and Li each made a short statement on Tuesday at the end of a two-day visit by the Chinese premier.
"The Chinese side said very clearly they were not prepared to answer questions and instead would prefer there to be no encounter with the press at all," Hebestreit said.
"The alternative would have been, either the chancellor appears before the press alone or there is no press statement at all."
"We thought that was not a good solution and therefore made the decision we did," Hebestreit said, stressing that the choice was made "with a heavy heart" after internal discussions.
"In that sense it was the least-worst option," the chancellor's spokesman told journalists.
"I would have been pleased had we made it possible for each side to ask two questions and that you then heard the answers."
Scholz used his statement on Tuesday to call for more access for greater freedom of the press in China.
"German correspondents would like to report from China. They need access for this," the chancellor said standing next to his counterpart.
Li's visit to Germany was his first foreign trip since he was named China's prime minister, in a signal that Beijing hopes to improve relations with the European Union.
But Germany has been looking to diversify its economic relationships away from China, worried about over-reliance on the Asian giant amid simmering geopolitical tensions.
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