Indo-Pacific may be the area where the biggest challenge with China materialises: German envoy
The Hindu
Expanding on the European focus on the Indo-Pacific, the German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann said on Friday, “India will be our preferred partner in this endeavour. India is a very courted country right now. Everybody is coming here…”
The Indo-Pacific may be the area where the biggest challenge we have to face with China materialises, said German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann while stating that Indo-Pacific is growing in importance on the European agenda.
Expanding on the European focus on the Indo-Pacific, he said on March 31, “India will be our preferred partner in this endeavour. India is a very courted country right now. Everybody is coming here…”
In this regard, he said for the first time European Union (EU) is also in the political thinking of India. Referring to the war in Ukraine, the envoy said borders are not safe any more. In Europe, sovereign states could be invaded, he said and added, “In Indo-Pacific, this kind of aggression can happen.”
Speaking at a seminar on the ‘India and the EU and the transiting security order in the Indo-Pacific’ organised by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) in partnership with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), Dr. Ackermann said, “What we want in the Indo-Pacific is preserving the international rules-based order.”
Referring to various multilateral and mini-lateral groupings in the region, he said what we are seeing is the seeding of the security framework in response to China.
He further said that their experience is not to put all the eggs in one basket, referring to their dependence on Russia for gas imports which he said have now been reduced to zero. With China the business interests are 100 times more, Mr. Ackermann said while adding, “We cannot fully decouple from China.”
The envoy termed climate change as the next major challenge confronting the region. In the last two years, several European countries have announced Indo-Pacific policies.