Germany’s South China Sea adventure exposes divisions in Berlin
- Warship’s proposed friendly stop-off in Shanghai scuppered by surprise move from Beijing seeking clarification
- What began as a ‘classic German foreign policy fudge’ has given Angela Merkel a headache in her last days in office
China’s move to deny the request to dock in Shanghai on Tuesday until Germany offers a better explanation for the passage, however, has called Merkel’s bluff and may force the veteran leader to shed some of the strategic ambiguity that has come to define her China policy.
“The Shanghai port visit was a late addition to the deployment in order to appease doves in Berlin who worried it would be overly provocative towards China. But what it has done is obscure the message that Germany is sending with this mission,” said Noah Barkin, Berlin-based senior fellow in the German Marshall Fund’s Asia Programme.
“Now Beijing is calling its bluff. The episode shows that Germany still has a lot to learn in terms of strategic culture. Under Merkel, it has too often couched its very real concerns about China in murky messages.”
The episode is an example of how broader German policy towards China has operated for years. It has by far the largest trading relationship with China of any EU nation and is loath to do anything that may jeopardise this.
For this reason, Merkel has declined to adopt a more confrontational approach on issues such as human rights and economic coercion, preferring to raise the issues in private and pursue common areas in which Germany and China can collaborate.