Outside Europe, Kohl talks business, not politics<\/p>\n
By Andrew Gray<\/p>\n
BONN (Reuter): Helmut Kohl may be the most influential
\npolitical leader in Europe, but when he travels far beyond its
\nshores, the veteran German chancellor means business.<\/p>\n
Kohl, famous for his many trips and talks around Europe
\npromoting the continent's further integration, is now touring
\nIndonesia, the Philippines and Japan to drum up contracts for a
\nlegion of German industrialists accompanying him.<\/p>\n
He is being received like a world leader -- for example, an
\naudience with Japan's Emperor Akihito is scheduled in Tokyo --
\nbut analysts say this has little to do with carving out a new
\nworld role for the Germany that united six years ago.<\/p>\n
Kohl -- who will on Thursday become Germany's longest-serving
\npostwar chancellor -- is more concerned about globalization than
\nabout glory, they say. This trading nation needs to win new
\nmarkets for its high quality goods if it wants to stay
\ncompetitive into the next century.<\/p>\n
\"This is basically an economic trip and you can see that from
\nhis entourage,\" foreign policy analyst Ernst-Otto Czempiel said,
\nreferring to the 56 business leaders accompanying Kohl.<\/p>\n
The Frankfurt professor said united Germany had become more
\nactive abroad, but mostly in Europe and the Mediterranean area
\nwhere it was directly concerned about political developments.<\/p>\n
\"Since the end of the East-West conflict and reunification,
\nthe German government has become much more active in those
\nregions,\" Czempiel said.<\/p>\n
Czempiel, head of the Hesse Institute for Peace and Conflict
\nResearch, said Germany shared Western concerns about arms control
\nand political stability in southeast Asia but they were not as
\nvital to Bonn as they were to its allies.<\/p>\n
\"They're sensible goals but they're not national interests, as
\nthey are for the United States for example,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Klaus Becher of the German Society for Foreign Policy said
\nBonn had little political clout in such a far-off region.<\/p>\n
\"You can influence very little politically on your own,\" he
\nnoted. \"We as a nation can promote our own industry but we are
\nonly one of several voices when it comes to political matters.\"<\/p>\n
But even within this context, the united Germans find they can
\nno longer be the \"economic giant and political dwarf\" that old
\nWest Germany was.<\/p>\n
Stung by domestic criticism that he was ignoring human rights
\nduring his trip to Indonesia, Kohl tried at short notice to
\narrange a meeting on Monday in Jakarta with the East Timorese
\nNobel Peace Prize laureate Bishop Carlos Belo.<\/p>\n
German newspapers gleefully reported that Belo turned down the
\ninvitation from the chancellor.<\/p>\n
\"What a rude awakening for Helmut Kohl in his jubilee week,\"
\nclucked the Frankfurter Rundschau, which assumed Belo did not
\nwant to be used for Kohl's political purposes.<\/p>\n
\"A Nobel Peace Prize winner snubs a chancellor -- when did you
\never see that happen before?\" it asked.<\/p>\n
Kohl came under fire at home last year when he became the
\nfirst Western leader to visit a Chinese army barracks since the
\n1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.<\/p>\n
\"Helmut Kohl has perfected the art of separating human rights
\nand economic interests,\" the Frankfurter Rundschau said.
\nThat appeared to be borne out on Monday when Kohl announced in
\nJakarta that his delegation had signed contracts worth 1.34
\nbillion marks ($855 million) with Indonesian businessmen.<\/p>\n
Becher said Bonn was trying to strike a balance between human
\nrights and economic ties, pointing out that yelling about human
\nrights was not the best way to get results in Asia.<\/p>\n
When the German parliament passed a resolution critical of
\nChina's policy on Tibet earlier this year, a furious Beijing put
\noff a planned China visit by Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel.<\/p>\n
Czempiel acknowledged a quiet word can have greater effect
\nthan a public shouting match but said there was still room for
\nimprovement in Bonn's commitment to human rights.<\/p>\n
\"Kohl should have more in his luggage than 25 industrial
\ncontracts,\" he said.<\/p>",
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