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India’s importance getting more obvious, new govt won’t change ties: German envoy Lindner

German Ambassador to India Walter J. Lindner talks of Indo-Pacific region, hints at China by saying one country blocking sea-lanes will have an impact in Berlin.

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New Delhi: India’s importance for Germany and the world is only getting “more and more obvious”, Walter J. Lindner, German Ambassador to India, said Monday as Germany looked set for a potentially lengthy and complex process to determine who will lead it next.

“Whatever government is in power, they will have a strategic partnership with India,” he told a select group of journalists in an interaction.

Germany went to the polls Sunday wherein the country will now have to choose a new chancellor with Angela Merkel stepping down after 16 years.

According to Lindner, while a lot has changed under Merkel, there will “not be much difference” in terms of Germany’s foreign policies and relations with India.

“But the devil is in the details. Some (parties) are more into human rights, some are more into free trade. We will see what is pushed forward,” he said.

However, he noted that none of the current global international issues — from terrorism to vaccine or climate change — “can be solved without India”.

Talking about the Indo-Pacific region, Lindner said Germany has “interests” in the region, and added that the country will not allow any states to block the sea-lanes, and if any country is not following rules, then it impacts them.

“Indo-Pacific is the most dynamic region of the world now. It is growing fast. It might be far away from Germany … India is a bit a far away and so is the Indo-Pacific. But more and more it is coming into our vision as well.”

His comments come days after the first in-person Quad summit between the US, India, Australia and Japan took place in Washington, in which the leaders affirmed that it will not allow any kind of disruption or conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

“Germany is the fourth-largest economy in the world. We depend totally on exports. So if the exports, 40 per cent of which pass through the international trade routes in the Indo-Pacific … if they are blocked, or face political turmoil, or some states are not following rules then it impacts us … We have an interest in free passage there,” he said.

“We want this to be a stable region,” the German envoy said.

“That’s why for us, the Indo-Pacific is getting more and more important. That’s why the strategy, that’s why the EU has a strategy. It is not a military alliance. It is a very comprehensive strategy.”


Also read: If anything is Angela Merkel’s legacy, it is her custodianship of the liberal world order


‘Understand why France is angry on AUKUS’

Expressing solidarity with France as a fellow member of the European Union (EU), Lindner said they understand “why France was angry” on Australia’s sudden announcement of going for a trilateral security partnership with the US and the UK (called AUKUS) to build nuclear-powered submarines. Paris called it a “back stab” by Canberra as they scrapped a billion-dollar deal to procure French diesel-powered submarines.

“We could relate to this. We understand what they (France) went through and why the anger. While on the other hand, we have good relations with the US, we are happy that Macron and Biden are now sorting this out,” he said.

Last week, after France recalled its envoys from the US and Australia, US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron spoke on the phone in which France decided to send its ambassador back to Washington.


Also read: Quad and AUKUS goals are clear as black and white. Only one can cut back China’s power


‘Afghanistan was a failure’

Admitting to the fact that the withdrawal of the NATO forces from Afghanistan on 31 August turned out to be “a mess” and “a failure”, Lindner said “not everything is lost” since there was some improvement in the condition of women and girls.

“We were from the beginning engaged with Afghanistan. But for the misjudgement of the Taliban, the velocity with which they spread in Afghanistan, (there was) lack of good intelligence … Everyone thought we (Western forces) would have more time to get our people out.”

But now, Lindner said, everything has to come on to the table in terms of negotiations with the Taliban.

“Maybe we expected too much. First objective was to get rid of al Qaeda but I think that was done after the first few years. But afterwards we stayed on to bring democracy, human rights, we tried to leave behind a kind of a better Afghanistan which would be sustainable and having a better army … The idea was good but may(be) it did not work in Afghanistan. Maybe the situation was too backward and the Taliban was too strong. So all these have to be analysed,” he said.

In terms of talking to the Taliban Lindner said Germany is speaking to them “not to establish relations” but to get people out. “We still have people there who have worked for us.”

“We have to make sure that aid is coming. We have to talk to see and influence where Afghanistan is going, what kind of society they will have. We, as the EU, have set conditions to talk. We have told them to bring inclusiveness and no more fostering of terrorism,” he said.

(Edited by Manasa Mohan)


Also read: Jaishankar speaks to German counterpart Heiko Maas on evacuation challenges in Afghanistan


 

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