Scholz' delicate Asia mission: Chancellor in Putin-friendly Vietnam - criticism of Russia's course
Created: 11/13/2022, 7:31 p.m
Olaf Scholz on his trip to Asia in Hanoi.
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Before the G20 summit, the Chancellor will visit Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore.
On the trip leading up to the summit, Asia is to be further explored as a business location.
Hanoi - Chancellor Olaf Scholz landed in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Sunday morning at the start of a four-day trip to Asia.
He then wants to visit Singapore in Southeast Asia, in order to finally take part in the G20 summit of the most important economic powers on the Indonesian island of Bali.
There he will discuss the Ukraine war, the energy and food crisis and the state of the global economy with US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, among others.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled his participation and is sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Scholz on a trip to Asia: Chancellor in Russia-friendly Vietnam
Scholz is in Vietnam with a twelve-strong business delegation, where he was due to meet Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Secretary General of the Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, in Hanoi on Sunday.
Vietnam has close ties with both China and Russia.
However, relations between China and Vietnam are strained by a territorial conflict in the South China Sea over two island groups.
Russia, in turn, is Vietnam's most important arms supplier.
Both countries are also cooperating in the development of gas and oil fields off the Vietnamese coast.
In addition, there are more than 150 investment projects in Vietnam with the participation of Russian companies.
Like China, Vietnam is one of the countries that did not condemn Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine in the votes in the UN General Assembly.
Scholz demands a clear stance against the Russian war from Vietnam
Scholz called on Vietnam to take a clear stand against Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
He would like the government in Hanoi to take a “clear position”.
“The Russian war of aggression is a breach of international law with a dangerous precedent effect.
Small countries can no longer be safe from the behavior of their larger, more powerful neighbors.”
According to the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
, analysts at the Iseas think tank in Singapore wrote seven years ago: “Russia's military presence in Asia is higher than at any time since the end of the Cold War.
However, the most important aspect of Russia's defense engagement in Southeast Asia remains arms sales to individual states, particularly Vietnam.”
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Scholz on a trip to Asia: the opposition reacts to the Chancellor's trip
With regard to the Federal Chancellor's travel plans, the CSU politician Peter Aumer said: It is important to take a look at Asia as a whole and to keep an eye on all the players in Asia: "There was actually joy that Germany was putting the focus more strongly back to the South Asian countries, and I think there's a lot of potential if you look at GDP growth up to 2050," Aumer said of Vietnam, as reported by
tagesschau
.
The FDP Asia expert, Frank Müller-Rosentritt, also drew attention to the special relationship between Germany and Vietnam.
100,000 Vietnamese came to the GDR as guest workers: "This gives you a certain closeness among the population - which doesn't mean that the people who live here have a certain closeness to the regime in Vietnam, you have to make a very clear distinction."
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is received by Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (r).
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Scholz on a trip to Asia: Habeck is traveling with him to the economic conference in Singapore
In Singapore on Monday, Scholz will take part in an economic conference together with Economics Minister Robert Habeck, which will deal with reducing economic dependence on China and expanding partnerships with other Asian countries.
Meanwhile, Boris Mijatovic from the Greens pointed out that a mentally handicapped person was recently executed in Singapore: "That's something where you have to say very clearly to Singapore, that's a limit for us, you can't do it like that," said Mijatovic, as reported
by tagesschau
.
It is the Chancellor's third trip to Asia in eleven months.
Unlike his predecessors, Scholz deliberately did not visit the autocratically governed China as the first Asian country, but the democratic G7 partner Japan.
The most recent trip to Beijing followed six months later.
Government consultations were held in Berlin in May with the second economically strongest country in Asia - India.
(dpa)
