- Germany, current EU president and Europe’s biggest economy, has launched its Indo-Pacific strategy with India that is expected to play a key role in Berlin’s outreach in the region where China’s aggressive foreign policy has rattled countries.
- The strategy released by German Foreign Ministry has several indirect references to Chinese behaviour that challenged rules-based world order.
- Berlin’s strategy also suggested opening dialogue with institutions where India plays a key role — Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation and Indian Ocean Rim Association — in the areas of business and maritime safety, as well as disaster risk management.
- The German government also announced that it will work to maintain rules-based order together with partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
- To this end, it will cooperate with India and Japan for UN Security reforms.
- The strategy also contains veiled but firm criticism of Chinese actions in the South China Sea and its fallout on global trade in what mirrors India’s position on the issue.
- More than 90 percent of the world’s foreign trade is conducted by sea, a large part of which via the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
- Up to 25 percent of the world’s maritime trade passes through the Strait of Malacca.
- More than 2000 ships per day transport goods between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea via this bottleneck.
- A disruption to these maritime trade routes and thus to the supply chains to and from Europe would have serious consequences for the prosperity and supply of our population.
- The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as a comprehensive maritime regulatory and cooperation framework and the freedoms of navigation enshrined therein are universal.
- Germany is prepared to promote the enforcement of rules and norms in the region.
