Will the German economy succeed in reorienting itself in Asia?

Hanoi / Singapore Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) want to make Germany more independent of China. They are primarily focusing on Southeast Asia and India.

As a consequence of the turning point, “we have to expand our sales markets, our supply chains, our sources of raw materials and production sites so that we are not dependent on individual countries,” said Scholz at the beginning of his trip to Asia in Vietnam. At almost the same time, Habeck declared at the Asia-Pacific Conference in Singapore: “We have to reorganize our trade policy. We need other countries, other partners.”

Berlin sees enormous negative economic consequences should Beijing attack Taiwan. In some cases, dependency on China for important raw materials is close to 100 percent. Habeck therefore called for more speed, especially with trade agreements, and urged swift talks about a free trade agreement between the EU and India: “The world is not waiting for Germany and Europe to get on their feet.”