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Ilustración editorial del canciller alemán Friedrich Merz en gira diplomática por Asia, con banderas de Singapur, Japón y Corea del Sur
Gira asiática del canciller Merz del 26 al 30 de octubre de 2026 · Imagen generada por EPM

Merz to visit Singapore, Japan and South Korea from October 26 to 30

Chancellor Friedrich Merz will visit Singapore, Japan and the Republic of Korea from October 26 to 30, 2026, meeting Lawrence Wong, Sanae Takaichi and Lee Jae…

--- The context --- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will tour Asia from October 26 to 30, 2026. It brings together three close partners in the region: Singapore, Japan and the Republic of Korea. --- The facts --- On Tuesday, October 27, Merz will hold talks in Singapore with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and is also scheduled to meet President Tharman Shanmugaratnam. He will also deliver a speech at the Singapore Lecture. On October 28 he will travel to Japan, where Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will receive him in Tokyo; he will join the German-Japanese Business Summit and visit a Japanese company with German cooperation. From Thursday, October 29, he will be in South Korea: in Seoul he will meet President Lee Jae Myung, on Friday, October 30, he will open the nineteenth Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business, and he will visit the Demilitarized Zone on the border with North Korea. --- The positions --- The stated position is clear: the visit seeks to deepen cooperation on security and economic matters with these close partners. Merz will be accompanied by a business delegation. --- What remains unknown --- The announcement details no agreements to be signed or expected outcomes. Nor does it specify which Japanese company will be visited or the topics of each bilateral talk. --- Unanswered questions --- What concrete commitments will emerge from the meetings in Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul? Will security agreements be announced, or only statements of intent? What role will the business delegation play at each stop of the tour? --- EPM analysis --- The sequence matters: opening in Singapore, passing through the Tokyo business summit and closing in Seoul combines a political and a commercial message across five days, three capitals and two economic forums. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the tour is right to join diplomacy and economics in a single agenda, because cooperation with close partners in Asia can no longer separate security from trade. Its real value will not lie in the photographs from Tokyo, Singapore and Seoul, but in whether the business delegation returns with concrete commitments and public follow-up. Without verifiable results, the trip will remain a correct gesture that falls short of its stated ambition.
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