Relations with India: Here thick boards have to be drilled

In the summer, Chancellor Olaf Scholz invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a guest to the G-7 summit.

That was the right approach to dealing with this partner country.

While India likes to call itself “the world's largest democracy,” that doesn't mean Delhi is marching in the same direction as the world's other democracies.

This is most evident when it comes to Ukraine.

Here India is first and foremost pursuing its own national interests – or what the Modi government thinks are.

Ever since independence, Delhi has avoided being integrated into fixed alliance structures.

You want to be able to make decisions autonomously in every situation.

Involve early

For Germany and Europe, this means that relations with India require the proverbial drilling of very thick boards.

The offers that the West can make to the Indians are quite attractive.

There are many common interests.

But not even the Americans can come to Delhi with a firm decision and then expect that they will then “nod” it there.

This is especially true for Europe.

India should therefore be involved early in many decision-making processes and in this way set an example of how the 21st century world could solve its problems.

In any case, the Chinese method is not suitable for this.