Actually, Foreign Minister Baerbock wanted to cheer for the German soccer women in Sydney. She still goes to the stadium. But for her visit to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji she also has important topics with her.
It’s a little trip around the world, packed with big themes. When Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock gets off the Air Force Airbus in Canberra, Australia’s capital, after a flight of almost 23 hours, she also has this message for Australia with her: “Our partners must be able to count on us. That applies in particular to the Indo-Pacific. One, if not the region , where the international order will be decided in the 21st century.”
The Indo-Pacific: stage for the power struggle with China over dominance, raw materials and influence. Australia is now Baerbock’s first stop ahead of New Zealand and Fiji. A visit to very good friends, with whom Germany is fighting together for the rule of law: “Even with partners who are half a world away, like our friends from Down Under,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz just had during the inaugural visit of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanian in Germany explained.
Australia is Ukraine’s biggest supporter outside of NATO. It is also a country that has understood that the Ukraine crisis is more than a war somewhere far away in Europe, as Scholz also says: “I am particularly pleased that Australia will also be making a contribution to airspace surveillance in NATO’s eastern alliance area from autumn and will station an Awacs reconnaissance aircraft in Rammstein.”
Climate protection and rare earths
In Australia, by the way, they are also happy about one of the country’s largest arms exports to Germany. Rheinmetall builds “Boxer” wheeled armored vehicles in Brisbane. 100 of them are to go to Germany in 2025. “I am pleased about the agreement that has just been concluded on the ‘Boxer’. It underscores our firm will to intensify our strategic cooperation as a close value partner,” said the Chancellor recently in Berlin.
In Australia, Foreign Minister Baerbock will also talk about climate protection, green hydrogen, supply chains and how Germany can work with Australia to become more independent from China. Keyword rare earths. Incidentally, the minister is not coming empty-handed, according to her spokesman Sebastian Fischer: “The foreign minister will return four cultural assets to the indigenous Kaurna community in the Australian capital.”
It is the first time ever that a continental European country has returned cultural property to Australia. The prelude to a probably larger return campaign. Actually, Foreign Minister Baerbock had hoped to be able to cheer for the German players in the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup in Sydney on Wednesday. It turned out differently. But Baerbock still goes to the stadium with her Australian counterpart and then flies on to New Zealand for her inaugural visit.
Site visit in Fiji
After that, for the very first time, a visit from the German Foreign Ministry to Fiji is planned. Baerbock is inaugurating the German embassy there, but her spokesman says there are more important issues: “In Fiji, she will make two site visits to learn about the effects of land erosion and rising sea levels.”
In Fiji, a country with hundreds of islands, meanwhile, rising sea levels dictate where people can live. The climate emergency has been in force there since 2021. Sea level has risen by 20 centimeters since the beginning of the 20th century. Last stop in seven days and three countries – for a green foreign minister, who will literally feel in Fiji with her feet in the water what climate change feels like.