What were Germany's interests in her relationships with China and Japan during 1930-40s?

by heroides

More specifically, what were her views concerning the Sino-Japanese conflict?

From basic knowledge I know that Germany was crucial in helping to modernise China's military through trade agreements, in exchange for raw materials... but at the same time they signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan in 1936, thus becoming major allies against communism.

Was it anywhere in Nazi foreign policy to ensure that their Axis allies would not be able to break China?

MXPMPM

In the 1930-40s the Germans were seen as the premier Western State in terms of military training. The Nationalist Party in China had close ties with the Germans, even borrowing their military uniforms for their own academy students. The famous Sun-Yat Sen suit is styled after a Germany military academy uniform.

To answer your question though, it was that Germany was betting on both horses so to speak. Germany invested in Japan and China (the Chinese Nationalists) in an effort to find a counter weight to the Russians and Bolshevism in the East. The Japanese, the Germans thought (and somewhat correctly), had a better opportunity of resisting the influence of Bolshevism/Communism so they pulled their support for the Chinese Nationalists and openly backed the Japanese in 1937.

It's not that the Nazi's wanted Japan to falter in China, but rather that they were hoping to have two options in the fight against Bolshevism.