Habeck's trip to Southeast Asia is supposed to look routine - but it isn't

Economics Minister Robert Habeck landed in Singapore on Saturday for no easy mission. It is true that previous trips abroad are finally not about buying liquid gas and fighting the acute energy crisis. But Habeck has made it his mission not to make his trip to Southeast Asia look like an anti-China trip - although it certainly is.

In Singapore, the economics minister primarily wants to open up new sales markets for German companies and will take part in the Asia-Pacific conference at the weekend. The conference fits “exactly into the political landscape”, as Habeck says immediately before departure, there is a lot of talk about diversification and new, alternative markets.

As a lesson learned from the energy crisis in the wake of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, the federal government has decided to reduce its dependency on China - albeit without alienating the Chinese if possible.

Accordingly, the trip to Southeast Asia should look like routine. Almost a year ago he had already agreed to take part in the conference. "So it would not be entirely correct to say: This trip was now planned and designed as an answer to the debate about China," says Habeck.

But he also says: "It fits very well into this time that we are once again deepening the talks with a strong economic area at a very high political and entrepreneurial level". The trip is therefore "like the counter shot to the prohibited investments and the debate we are having around China".

In fact, in the past few days, there have been more and more decisions aimed at slowing down the Chinese. Not only the entry of Chinese investors at the port of Hamburg was partially prohibited and the purchase of two chip companies was even completely prohibited. Shortly before the trip, the federal government also targeted investments by German companies in the People's Republic.

Habeck confirms what had already become known from circles in his ministry: In the future, government guarantees that can be used to protect investments abroad against political risks are to become more expensive in China than in other countries.

Although the planned measure is not formally aimed exclusively at the People's Republic, the threshold of 20 percent of all secured investments that have to be concentrated in a country in order for the higher insurance fee to take effect is chosen in such a way that it only affects China next to Russia .

The minister confirms that a new cover will also be put in place. In the future, a maximum of three billion euros in investments will be guaranteed per company and country. Large corporations like Volkswagen quickly reach this limit. "Companies are free to do more, but we will not provide state protection to the same extent as before," says Habeck. "We will create an incentive to diversify."

The minister claims that it is not primarily about making investments in China more difficult. But the guarantees would have to "follow the goal of value for the German economy," he says. "That means in turn that we should avoid cluster risks."

In order to achieve this, the coalition has also agreed on a new course for free trade. Several free trade agreements that have already been concluded, such as CETA between the EU and Canada, as well as agreements with Chile and Mexico, are now to be ratified quickly.

The trip to Singapore also fits in well with the times, “because we have been working intensively again in the past few days and weeks, the ongoing free trade agreements, especially those with Chile, Mexico and CETA, are now really through the door we've made good progress there," says Habeck. "Further talks for further partnerships will start in the next, three, four days."

Therefore, on Saturday evening, before the conference officially began, Habeck met with the Ministers for Trade and Economy of Singapore. Further talks with representatives of Pakistan and the Philippines, among others, are planned on the fringes of the conference until Monday.

In order to reach agreement on trade policy and, above all, to advance CETA ratification, the traffic light coalition also agreed to withdraw from the so-called Energy Charter. On the basis of this international agreement, energy companies had sued Germany for damages, which is why the Greens in particular saw it as an obstacle to the energy transition.

A reform of the charter at European level has thus failed. According to coalition circles, the FDP agreed to the exit in return for the ratification of the free trade agreement. Habeck described the agreement as a "trade policy milestone".