China takes center stage as German foreign minister begins Pacific trip

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock left on Wednesday for a week-long trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, where the focus will be on security policy and climate protection.

Baerbock noted that the region is becoming increasingly important to Germany for strategic and economic reasons, especially given tensions with China over human rights, trade and Taiwan.

Australia and New Zealand were “more directly exposed than we are to the violent gusts of wind that are being sent around the world by China’s increasingly offensive behavior,” she said.

They had a lot of experience with their authoritarian neighbor, “whose foreign policy toolbox includes economic pressure and who also tests our democracies through espionage and other influence operations.”

Three Germans have been arrested on suspicion of spying for China in recent days. Beijing is also taking an increasingly aggressive stance in the disputed waters of the South China Sea and has threatened to invade the democratic island of Taiwan, which it considers its own territory.

The German government has decided to become more involved in security policy in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and will send a warship, the frigate Baden-Württemberg, there for the second time next week for training purposes.

“Security in Europe also depends on security in the Indo-Pacific – and vice versa,” said Baerbock. “If the international peace order comes under pressure on one side of the world, it will also collapse on the other side of the world.”

The Green politician highlighted that Australia and New Zealand are among the non-NATO countries providing military and financial support to Ukraine as it defends itself from a Russian invasion.

In fact, Baerbock wanted to visit the countries last August, but had to cancel the trip after a stopover in Abu Dhabi when his government plane developed a series of mechanical problems.

The trip was rescheduled with a slightly different itinerary. She travels to Adelaide, Australia, on Wednesday, then to the New Zealand city of Auckland on Friday night and from there to Fiji, which spans 300 islands in the South Pacific, on Sunday.

With a population of just under 1 million, Fiji is one of the countries most affected by climate change. Residents of some islands have already had to be evacuated as they face flooding due to rising sea levels.

Baerbock will be the first German foreign minister to visit the island state.