Merz Heads to Asia as Germany Seeks Security and Supply-Chain Footing in Singapore, Japan and South Korea

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz began a five-day tour of Asia on Monday, landing first in Singapore before moving on to Japan and South Korea. With him is a delegation of 30 senior businesspeople, drawn from German industry, technology, defense companies and energy suppliers. The makeup of the group says a good deal about the purpose of the trip: Berlin wants to adjust its foreign policy to a world of rising uncertainty and to protect the supply chains its economy depends on.

The timing overlaps with another high-level journey. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is visiting China at the same time. The two trips are not officially linked, but both appear aimed at strengthening Germany's economic and security relationships while geopolitical instability puts global supply chains at risk.

In Singapore, Merz is due to deliver a major foreign policy speech and meet Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. On Wednesday he travels to Japan to meet Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and take part in the German-Japanese Business Summit. Ben Ascione, an assistant professor of politics and international relations at Waseda University in Tokyo, told DW the visit will be very much welcomed there. Japan, he said, has spent more than a decade looking for new security allies and closer trade partners. The effort began under Shinzo Abe, and Takaichi is following that blueprint, driven by tensions in the Indo-Pacific and uncertainty around the second administration of US President Donald Trump.

China's growing assertiveness weighs heavily on Tokyo, particularly as Beijing builds closer ties with both Russia and North Korea. China and Russia have held joint military exercises off Japan, and Beijing insists Taiwan must come under mainland control. Ascione notes that a conflict over Taiwan, the disputed South China Sea islands or other territorial claims would hit global trade hard, and Germany would feel it too. The two countries' primary threats differ, he said: Germany is focused on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while Japan watches China, North Korea and Russia. But he believes Germany has moved closer to Takaichi's view of the threat China poses.

Japan would also welcome German military assets in the region, Ascione said. There is precedent. In May 2021 the frigate Bayern became the first German Navy warship to dock in Tokyo in 20 years, and went on to take part in air and maritime exercises with Japanese units. In July 2024, German Eurofighter Typhoons flew air drills with Japanese fighters over northern Japan. Merz and Takaichi are expected to discuss responses to geopolitical threats, including supply chain resilience, protecting strategically important industries and securing access to technologies and components such as rare earths, which China still largely controls.

The final stop is South Korea, where Merz will meet President Lee Jae-myung and open the 19th Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business in Seoul. Saeme Kim, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, expects security to dominate. She says Merz could raise concerns about Seoul's outreach to North Korea and, by extension, Russia. She pointed to recent discussion of petroleum exports to Russia, though Seoul says it has not breached sanctions. South Korea is trying to establish a channel of communication with Pyongyang even though Kim Jong Un's regime has sent troops to the war in Ukraine, and it continues to provide humanitarian aid. Kim said many European countries, not only Germany, will be irritated by the Lee administration's approach, and warned that some of these policies could damage South Korea's own long-term interests.

Merz may also be asked about Germany's own history. Having seen the country reunify in 1990, he could offer insight to two Koreas trying to work together. Kim cautioned that while there are lessons, there are also many differences: the two Koreas are technically still at war, and Seoul faces an aspiring nuclear power on its border.

Merz is scheduled to visit the Demilitarized Zone, where he would see the North from a distance. That stop may be canceled, however, because of tensions after a North Korean mine injured three South Korean soldiers last month. Pyongyang has accused the South of staging the incident. Whether the DMZ visit goes ahead, and whether Merz presses Lee on Russia and North Korea, are the things to watch as the tour reaches Seoul.