Merz Pitches Closer Ties With Asia, Warns on Pressure From China

Merz Pitches Closer Ties With Asia, Warns on Pressure From ChinaAI Quick ReadGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Europe and Asia can benefit from closer ties across trade and security issues as both regions face pressures from great powers, particularly China.

“Together, we will be more successful if we respond in a coordinated manner to violations of free and fair trade,” he said Tuesday in Singapore, before he travels to Japan and South Korea. “Your security has a direct bearing on ours.

Our security has a direct bearing on yours,” he said in a speech that outlined shared interests between the two regions. The German leader focused special attention in his remarks on China, whose surging exports and increasingly high-end manufacturing risks hollowing out industries in many European economies.

But for many countries in Asia, particularly the continent’s southeast, the economic and trade relationships are often more intertwined. Merz also said China “bears a particular responsibility for order, peace, and security in the Indo-Pacific,” a view likely to resonate more with the US allies such as Philippines and Japan, as well as Taiwan.

The chancellor is bringing his message to the region as he has grown more hawkish on trade with China and recently forged a consensus with French President Emmanuel Macron that paved the way for tougher EU trade instruments.

As part of its response, the bloc is planning to use safeguard measures to cut imports of products from sectors including chemicals, furniture and machinery from China, according to people familiar with the matter. “Wise China policy begins at home,” Merz said.

“This principle holds true in the Indo-Pacific as much as in Europe. We will be better equipped to build balanced relations with China if we ourselves are united, strong, resilient, innovative and competitive.” Merz also reiterated his call for China to stop supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine.

“We encourage China to use her power to help bring about a just peace in Ukraine, rather than enabling Moscow’s war of aggression,” he said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

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