High Profile Oceania Trip By Foreign Min Shelved Due To Plane Faults

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has been forced to cancel a high-profile trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji due to two faults with the aircraft transporting her. After the second fault in less than 24 hours, requiring the plane to dump 80 tonnes of fuel and return to Abu Dhabi, Baerbock will return to Germany via a commercial airliner and rearrange her Oceania trip for another time. The incident comes as a major diplomatic blow to Germany as it seeks to present itself as a global foreign policy player rather than simply an economic power.

• Bojan Pancevski at WSJ: "The trip to Australia/Oceania was supposed to showcase Germany’s major policy shift in terms of containment of China and becoming engaged in the Indo-Pacific. It was planned for nearly a year. It was designed to demonstrate a new resolve. All of that foiled by a faulty plane"
• Germany has not taken such a high-profile role in the Indo-Pacific as other European powers such as the UK (with the AUKUS alliance) or France (with a sizeable naval deployment in the Indian and Pacific Oceans).
• However, Berlin has sought to show an increased willingness to engage with US and EU-aligned partners in the region, in particular Australia. In July, Germany agreed to purchase up to AUD1bn worth of Australian-made military equipment, including Boxer armoured vehicles made in Queensland by Germany's Rheinmetall. Meanwhile, 240 German troops have, for the first time,taken part in joint military exercises in Australia in late-July/early-Aug.