In Berlin, prayers are being sent up into the sky these days: hopefully none of the government machines will fail.

The Air Mission fleet is notorious for thwarting the travel plans of ministers and their delegations.

Just recently, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) had to take a scheduled Lufthansa flight to return from the fall conference of the International Monetary Fund in Washington because the government plane once again had a defect.

The rest of Lindner's tour group stayed an extra night to wait for a Luftwaffe replacement aircraft.

Not quite as comfortably equipped, but that didn't matter.

The main thing is that she flew.

Christopher Hein

Business correspondent for South Asia/Pacific based in Singapore.

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Julia Loehr

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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But the true endurance test is only now coming: In November, German travel diplomacy will be in top form.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) arrived in the Japanese capital Tokyo on Tuesday.

After a visit to Kyoto, continue to the South Korean capital of Seoul.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is on his way to the Chinese capital Beijing on Thursday - a trip that many observers, not only in Berlin, see critically, even if it has shrunk to a day trip without an overnight stay on site.

After a short breather in Berlin, Scholz will fly back to Asia next week.

The first destination is Vietnam, the next stop is the Asia-Pacific Conference (APK) of German business in Singapore.

There he can high five with Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), who also flies to the conference with a business delegation.

For Scholz, it then goes on to the G-20 summit in Bali – if the government machine plays along.

More trips than ever - despite the Ukraine war

Diplomats in Asia say there has never been such travel between Berlin and Beijing, Tokyo and Singapore.

They place the delegation visits in a row with the flag raising of the Bundeswehr, which in September sent six Eurofighters to take part in the "Pitch Black" maneuver via Singapore to Darwin in Australia.

“These are all part of the implementation of the federal government’s Indo-Pacific Guidelines.

Despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they are being put into practice,” says Norbert Riedel, the German Ambassador in Singapore.

A national security strategy is currently being developed in Annalena Baerbock's (Greens) Foreign Office.

At the same time, a China strategy is being worked on at full speed.

The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine showed Germany how dangerous it is to be dependent on an authoritarian regime.

And in the case of Russia, it was “only” about the energy supply.

Economic ties with China are far greater.

The country is by far Germany's most important trading partner.

Should China one day carry out its threats and attack Taiwan, the expected sanctions from the West against China would also affect Germany indirectly.