The News
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is due to arrive in India Thursday to bolster economic cooperation in a bid to reduce Berlin’s dependence on China.
His visit comes after the German government adopted a “Focus On India” paper last week, which advocates a deepened strategic partnership with New Delhi on areas spanning foreign policy, trade, environmental protection, and research.
The talks also coincide with the Asia Pacific Conference of German Business, attended by business leaders and CEOs from Germany, India, and elsewhere.
SIGNALS
Germany wants to ‘de-risk’ its relations with China
China’s exports to Germany have grown more than tenfold since the turn of the century, becoming the latter’s biggest source of imports. But Berlin, stung by the economic fallout of its reliance on Russian gas imports and struggling to boost anemic economic growth, is trying to reduce its dependency on a single country. Some believe India’s close ties to Russia could complicate a strategic partnership with Germany, NDTV reported, but Berlin is hopeful: “India is the litmus test, so to speak. If de-risking China is to work, India is the key to it,” a German official told Reuters.
India could gain more ‘stability’ through stronger German ties
Germany views New Delhi as a key strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific but not a geopolitical ally on prescient issues like Ukrainian sovereignty, an expert argued for the Observer Research Foundation, with India’s close ties to Russia presenting Berlin with something of a “dilemma.” However, as the Russia-Ukraine war drags on, India’s connections with Germany and Europe have become more important, a columnist argued in The Indian Express. France is already a key strategic partner, and forging deeper connections with Germany “will lend balance and stability to India’s great power relations,” he wrote, as it grapples with “a troublesome China, weakened Russia, and meddlesome America.”