Travel diplomacy: Merz and Steinmeier take separate paths to Asia

Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier depart for multi-day Asian trips on Monday. Steinmeier begins his second state visit to China just hours after Merz starts his longest overseas tour as chancellor, visiting Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. These are two very different journeys to very different partners.

While China is Germany's most important economic partner in Asia, it is also an authoritarian regime run by the Communist Party and considered a competitor and strategic rival. The three countries Merz visits, however, are more like-minded partners on the continent. Japan is the closest Germany has to a democratic economic power in the G7, and Merz's trip concludes on Friday evening.

Both leaders' trips are carefully coordinated, with no direct connection between them. Merz aims to reduce dependence on China, making his third Asian trip as chancellor. This visit follows his decision in January to visit India before China, signaling his desire to reduce Germany's economic dependence on China, particularly in imports of critical raw materials.

The trip includes a speech on foreign policy in Singapore, economic conferences in Japan and South Korea, and a visit to the demilitarized zone between South Korea and North Korea. Merz is accompanied by a large delegation of businesses and government officials, aiming to sign agreements on artificial intelligence, infrastructure, and critical resources.

Steinmeier's four-day visit to China marks the conclusion and highlight of his many Asian trips in his second term. He regularly promotes Germany and Europe as a fair and reliable partner, both politically and economically, and as guarantors of a rule-based international order. Steinmeier will call for balanced relations with China and discuss China's future role in international relations during his talks in Beijing.

He will deliver a keynote address at Peking University's honorary professorship award ceremony on Thursday and meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping the following day. Steinmeier advocates for balanced economic and trade relations, not contract signings for German companies. He takes Peter Leibinger, President of the German Confederation of Industry, and Dirk Jandura, President of the German Confederation of Commerce, Foreign Trade, and Services, instead of an economic delegation.

The Bundespräsident's trip is closely coordinated with the government and the EU Commission, as well as with Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who recently secured a reduction in Chinese exports of hybrid cars to Europe. Steinmeier travels "not only as Germany's head of state to China, but as a European," emphasizing this point by bringing European Parliament Vice-President Katarina Barley (SPD) on the trip.