Germany goes to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament. The elections follow last year's collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government, and come at a time of instability, as the continent reels from a United States that is reducing its support for Ukraine. According to polls, its next leader will be Friedrich Merz, who is expected to take a tougher line on China.
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00:00Ahead of Germany's elections, tens of thousands rally in central Berlin against the far right,
00:09which has been boosted recently by deadly attacks blamed on asylum seekers.
00:15Led by Alice Feidel, the Alternative for Germany party is not expected to win or form part
00:21of a coalition government.
00:24But it has pushed the issue of immigration up the agenda.
00:27Even the man expected to become Germany's next leader is talking about it.
00:32We have to solve two major problems of this country in the next four years.
00:37That is migration and that is economy.
00:40Germany is two years into recession.
00:43Hit by high energy prices in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine and Chinese competition.
00:50Friedrich Merz is seen as pro-business and is running under the slogan
00:55a Germany we can be proud of again.
00:58His conservative Christian Democrats are expected to become the biggest party in the German parliament.
01:05The previous coalition government, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, collapsed in November.
01:12They disagreed over the budget and how to get the country's economy going again.
01:17Scholz is running in this election, but his Social Democrats or SPD are trailing in the polls,
01:24well behind Merz's CDU-CSU bloc and the far-right Alternative for Germany.
01:31The current government is made up of the SPD, Greens and the Free Democratic Party or FDP.
01:38Wanting to reduce trade dependency on China,
01:41they toughened Germany's approach to Beijing during their three years in power.
01:46Theirs was also the first German government to mention Taiwan in its coalition agreement.
01:51To emphasise their commitment to global democratic values,
01:55illustrating their awareness of the East Asian country's geopolitical significance.
02:00This led to the first visit by a German minister to Taiwan in 26 years.
02:06A visit called vile by China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan.
02:11But observers say the coalition parties disagreed on how to treat Beijing.
02:17With Chancellor Scholz wary of upsetting China,
02:21which up until last year was Germany's largest trading partner.
02:25Now election frontrunner Merz is expected to take a tougher line.
02:30He has named Beijing as one of the members of the four-party axis of authoritarianism,
02:38together with Russia, North Korea and Iran.
02:43And there are clear indications that Merz would push for a more assertive policy
02:50that Berlin should assume vis-a-vis Beijing.
02:53That being said, he would have to make sure that the different members of the coalition
02:58would be able to reconcile their differences to the greatest extent possible.
03:02Those differences may arise with Merz's sister party, the Christian Social Union or CSU.
03:09It's based out of the state of Bavaria, which has strong links to China,
03:14a big investor in its car industry.
03:17But beyond trade and manufacturing, there are bigger concerns at play in these elections.
03:23The vote comes as Europe reels from reduced US support for the continent's security
03:29and a clear shift in policies by its historical ally.
03:33Whichever parties form Germany's next government,
03:37they face the challenge of not just turning around Europe's biggest economy
03:42and addressing voters' fears on immigration,
03:45but also charting a path forward for Europe at a time of greater global uncertainty.
03:53Klein Wong and Louise Watt for Taiwan Plus.