Indian Odyssey

However troubled Germany's domestic political landscape might be, Angela Merkel has always managed to gain brownie points on the foreign policy front.

And now, much to her credit, Angela Merkel has successfully managed to steer some of Berlin's obsessive focus on China to India -- a shift that was long overdue. But credit should also go to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who as economics minister in the early 1990s became known as the architect of India's economic liberalization and who helped usher in the boom which has so impressed Germany -- albeit belatedly. It was also Singh who decided to treat Merkel's tour of the country as a state visit rather than a mere working trip, thereby helping make it a resounding success.

India has long deserved greater recognition for the fact that it has remained democratic for over half a century, despite being a poor country with a vast, heterogeneous population. In New Delhi and Mumbai, Angela Merkel repeatedly stressed that Germany shares with India values such as a belief in human rights, rule of law and above all, democracy -- values it does not necessarily share with other Asian countries.

Indeed, China could see Germany's embracing of India as something of a snub. Merkel appears to accept that this will happen, but says it is not her intention.

Problematically, India's rapid economic growth has widened the gap between the new middle class and the impoverished bottom class, which makes up a third of the population. A similar development has already occurred in China, but is likely to cause greater tension in a democracy -- as Merkel pointed out, not in front of the press but behind closed doors.

Obviously, Angela Merkel and her hosts did not agree on everything. India and Germany still do not see eye-to-eye on the World Trade talks in Doha, ongoing since 2001, which is a standard problem between highly developed countries and advancing nations such as India, let alone very poor ones.

And, as the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali approaches, Merkel was able to make little progress on the question of climate protection.

But even talks between Manhmohan Singh and Angela Merkel on these two key global questions highlighted the two leaders' determination to find solutions. If the times comes that they actually do, the Chancellor's visit to India will prove in retrospect to have been even more successful.

Peter Stützle heads DW-RADIO's capital bureau in Berlin (jp)