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E • Wash your hands first, says the monk who receives Heiko Maas (SPD). "It's like that here." A ritual of Buddhist purification. Tokyo, Wednesday afternoon, 32 degrees of humidity, the cicadas make a big noise. The Federal Foreign Minister has just arrived at the Zojo-ji temple and crossed the old gate that survived the Second World War – unlike the rest of the once-huge complex.
Now Maas turns to the main hall of the temple founded in 1393 in Jodo-Shu ("School of the Pure Land"), a school of Japanese Buddhism. The monk shows how to wash his hands here: with the help of a yellow trowel, with which Maas now dries both hands. Immediately he hands a towel to the guest of Berlin
The Amida Buddha drives all people to paradise and to bliss, says the monk, narrating the temple. Maas looks a little around him, a little conversation – the monk is talking about Germany, roses and action "Our village should be more beautiful". Maas must continue
Maas (right) is welcomed by a monk in the Zojo-ji temple
Source: dpa / Britta Pedersen
There is little time left for religion, culture and history. In just ten hours, the Foreign Minister's visit to the capital of Japan was launched; later, he wants to fly to South Korea. The visit is part of his message: his first trip to Asia takes him to Japan. And not in China, as one might think, for example because Germany is negotiating a lot more with Beijing than with Tokyo. It's a matter of trade, just a week after the EU and Japan signed their joint free trade agreement, Jephta. But Maas wants to put some other accents.
The Social Democrat speaks of Jefta as a "milestone". Maas' praise for the agreement serves, and not least, to distinguish it from the politics and philosophy of Donald Trump, who operates the counter-model: the US President's relies on trade agreements with individual states. As a result, Trump had already withdrawn from the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) in early 2017.
So now Jefta, on January 1, 2019, it is expected to come into effect. This would create "not only the largest free trade area in the world," says Maas. The EU and Japan also establish "standards for global trade" – in the areas of the environment, climate, consumer protection, social standards and competition law. Just this Wednesday, while Maas is in Tokyo, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will be received by Trump in Washington – because of the jet lag many hours later. Juncker comes as an "opponent" in the United States; with this label, the US president had recently provided the EU.
The EU and Japan sign a Free Trade Agreement in Tokyo
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In full commercial conflict with US President Donald Trump, the EU and Japan signed a far-reaching free trade agreement. They want to give a clear signal against economic foreclosure.
Maas are against Trump's policy and his style of politics. He must not say it, but let it be clearly seen. Maas complains in Tokyo of an "uncertainty over the course of the United States under President Trump," accusing him of "tweening over the decades alliances grown by tweet into 280 characters infage." This is not the last time Maas unleashes a spike against the world's most powerful man that day
It's like this: wherever Maas is in Tokyo, whatever that is the topic he is talking about, Trump plays a role, Not only when it comes to trade policy and tariffs, but also when he talks about how to deal with Iran after the l '. nuclear agreement that was effectively terminated by the United States. According to a statement by the German and Japanese Foreign Ministers, as well as regarding the situation on the Korean Peninsula, Syria and Ukraine, there are "consensus estimates" regarding the importance of the 39; agreement.
Maas draws a portrait of German-Japanese cooperation that goes far beyond free trade. "We think we are valuable partners," he says at the beginning of the conversation with his counterpart. Maas speaks Foreign Minister Taro Kono with "Dear Taro" and by you, speaks a few words in Japanese. Kono says in German: "Hello, Minister of Foreign Affairs." Japanese Foreign Minister deplores the challenges of free, open and rule-based order, emphasizes the importance of human rights # 39; man. Maas emphasizes that Germany and Japan are committed to "safeguarding the free world and free trade".
