German and Korean Approaches to the Indo-Pacific

Middle Power Strategies for a Global Key Region

Abstract

This article analyses and compares the Indo-Pacific strategy papers of Germany (2020) and South Korea (2022). Both are democratic industrial, trading, and welfare nations as well as middle powers that have recently adjusted their foreign policies. There are also numerous parallels in their turn towards the Indo-Pacific. China is their largest trading partner, which comes with numerous useful but also critical dependencies and interdependencies. At the same time, both Seoul and Berlin are heavily dependent on the US in terms of security policy and are linked to it politically, economically, and socially in many ways. Their Indo-Pacific concepts reflect this balancing act, the current geopoliticisation, and the desire to reduce existing dependencies, diversify, and have a mitigating effect on the regional and global rivalry between the US and China. South Korea and Germany would be ideal partners who could coordinate their goals for the region and cooperate in many ways.