German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was forced to cancel a visit to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji because her special plane developed a problem twice in two days, some Australian media outlets reported.

The purpose of Baerbock's visit was to promote a German "Indo-Pacific" strategy. But before setting off, Baerbock said that "even though we are 16,000 kilometers apart, we remain strategic partners that support each other".

The technical snag in her aircraft triggered ridicule in the German press. Bild said "Germany has lost face in front of the whole world", while Der Spiegel sarcastically said that government aircraft cannot fly, "just as everything else you have heard about this country recently".

Recently, in May, Baerbock was forced to stay in Qatar for a day as her aircraft developed a tire problem.

Baerbock's aircraft, the oldest of the German government's three executive jets, is scheduled to be grounded in 2024.

German government executive jets are notorious for breaking down. Former German chancellor Angela Merkel missed the opening ceremony of the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November 2018, because a radio system failure forced her aircraft to return mid-way.

The same year, then German finance minister Olaf Scholz had to take a civilian aircraft to return from an International Monetary Fund meeting because rodents bit into the government aircraft's cables.

Thorsten Benner, co-founder and director of the Global Public Policy Institute, a German think tank, and also a member of Baerbock's entourage, said the trip was carefully choreographed to demonstrate Germany's commitment to the "Indo-Pacific", a geopolitical concept coined by Washington, but ended up becoming a perfect metaphor for the "German decline" narrative.

Almost all of Germany's economic indicators are dipping. Manufacturing was once the pride of the country, but in July, the preliminary reading of Germany's manufacturing purchasing managers' index was only 38.8, while Italy and Spain, two European countries that sought German aid during the European debt crisis, were 44.5 and 47.8 respectively.

The IMF's latest forecast is that Germany's gross domestic product will shrink by 0.3 percent in 2023, the only G7 country whose economy is to contract.

The deteriorating economy is reshaping Germany's politics, while also making the German media speculate why a top diplomat was flying 16,000 kilometers to promote the "Indo-Pacific" strategy, which serves the United States' geopolitical interests, during an economic decline.

The mockery in the German media may not be confined to rickety government aircraft. Maybe it mirrors a general anxiety and skepticism about the diplomatic move.

BEIJING NEWS