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Merkel for closer ties with Asia

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday called upon the West to acknowledge “different structures” for resolving conflicts and be “open-minded” about religions from Asia. Calling on the West to be “more than willing to learn from others,” she said, “There is no such thing as better, wiser or cleverer.”

Delivering the keynote address at an international conference on Asia ahead of her maiden visit to India next week, Dr. Merkel pointed out that even the Roman Empire, despite its notion of invulnerability, “ended on a softer note.” Asia had a tradition that was centuries old; a couple of hundreds of years ago, China led in many disciplines. “There is good reason for China to say we will take the lead in future. We don’t have the right to say otherwise.”

Complimenting India for a stable political regime and high economic growth rate, she felt it must rapidly address the question of low wages and widespread poverty. India needed to ensure fair distribution of income and a proper strategy to alleviate poverty. “This is what I will tell Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. How long will this continue?”

Laying stress on the need to adopt a middle path in the West’s approach to the developing world, she said India’s global leadership in high-tech software, information technology and call centres an impact on jobs in Europe, but it was also realised that this played an important part in the country’s development. At the same time, the world needed to concentrate on the need for minimum standards of employment, especially in countries with economic significance.

India would be considered successful if it addressed this aspect and also transparency in dealing with natural resources. “If electricity costs nothing and you pay no wages, it is not possible for Europe to be competitive,” she said, adding that both countries could still be reliable partners, and there was no need to be pessimistic. “We also need to talk about employment conditions and a successful end to the Doha Round of negotiations.”

Expressing the hope that the recent initiatives would show tangible results in the world trade talks by the year-end, Dr. Merkel expressed her awareness of the vulnerability of 800 million peasants in China and 600 million in India, many of who were living below the poverty line. This aspect was the political responsibility of the entire world — “to take care of these 1,400 million people and see that they are treated fairly because both countries could run into major problems and trigger off political instability.”

Although Germany was rolling back its nuclear power programme, Dr. Merkel felt India should consider relying on this source of energy to sustain its economic growth. Europe had an interest in seeing Asia clock high growth rates because the potential to develop its domestic market was limited.

“Therefore, our possibility to increase production is tied to the growth potential in Asia.” The stable development of Asia was also important to counter terrorism, especially in Pakistan, India and Indonesia. While not denying that Pakistan was a nuclear power, she felt the political situation and the level of stability there had not reached a “satisfactory level.”

At the same time, Europe was not interested in “playing off” one Asian country against another. “Some suggested that good relations with India and China would mean tightrope walking. This is not acceptable. We take each and every country seriously. We don’t put them in categories. We enter into good relations with all countries even if it takes a while.”

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