At a meeting in Singapore on Monday, Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, called for increased collaboration between Germany, Europe, and countries within the Southeast Asian economic- and political union ASEAN.
Scholz pointed towards the war in Ukraine as a direct proof to why collaborations are vital and necessary and said he hoped to similarly see an improvement in the EU’s negotiations on trade collaborations with Australia, India and Indonesia.
The Chancellor further stated an important part of German Security Policy to be independent from risky one-sided raw material trade deals or critical technology and that a world of re-introduced trade barriers and torn economies was not a better place.
According to Danish tabloid media BT, the statement landed only one week after the Chancellor’s visit to China and should be viewed as an attempt to widen Germany’s reach of collaboration possibilities with Asian countries as the continent holds some of the fastest growing economies in the world.
The German leader visited Vietnam on Sunday and will fly to Indonesia after the visit to Singapore.
The G20-Summit is being held in Bali this week while an ASEAN-Summit was ended in Cambodia on Sunday. The conclusion of the diplomatic summits will be marked by an economic APEC-Summit held in Thailand’s Capitol, Bangkok.
Source: https://www.bt.dk/udland/scholz-tyskland-vil-samarbejde-med-sydoestasien-gennem-eu
