page_title: Heiko Maas
section_title: Foreign policy
hierarchical_section_title: Heiko Maas / Political positions / Foreign policy
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Sergej W. Lawrow (links) und Heiko Maas, Außenminister, bei der 55.&#160;Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz. Esperanto: Sergej V. Lavrov (maldekstre) kaj Heiko Maas, ministroj pri eksteraj aferoj, dum la 55-a Munkena Sekureca Konferenco. Русский: Серге́й Ви́кторович Лавро́в (вл.) и Хайко Маас, министры иностранных дел, на 55-й мюнхенской конференции по безопасности.
context_page_description: Heiko Josef Maas is a German politician who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the fourth cabinet of Angela Merkel since 14 March 2018. He served as the Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection from 17 December 2013 to 14 March 2018. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party.
  Maas was born in Saarlouis to a Catholic family, and is a lawyer. Before his appointment to the federal cabinet he was active in state politics in Saarland, where he served as Minister of the Environment, Energy and Transport, Minister of Economy, Labor, Energy and Transport and Deputy Minister-President.
context_section_description: Since taking office as foreign minister in 2018, Maas has been markedly tougher than his immediate predecessors – Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Sigmar Gabriel – in his rhetoric and approach towards Russia. On his first day in office, he issued a frank warning about Russian “aggression” and chastised its leadership for “defining itself in antagonism to many in the west”. Under his leadership, Germany – in coordination with its allies – expelled four Russian diplomats over Russia’s suspected involvement in the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, UK.
  Also, Maas has voted in favor of German participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions as well as in United Nations-mandated European Union peacekeeping missions on the African continent, such as in Darfur/Sudan (2017 and 2018), South Sudan (2017 and 2018) and Mali (2017 and 2018).
  Maas has supported the creation of an international financial system independent of the United States, including the creation of a European Monetary Fund and an independent version of the SWIFT network.
  In October 2018, Maas questioned the sale of German arms to Saudi Arabia after the murder of Saudi opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
  In November 2018, Maas raised the issue of Xinjiang re-education camps and human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.
  Regarding the Yemeni Civil War, Maas told Spiegel Online: "In Yemen, an unprecedented humanitarian tragedy is unfolding before the eyes of the international community...The call from Mike Pompeo and James Mattis for a ceasefire and the resumption of talks comes at the right time. We fully support their appeal."
  In 8 May 2019, European Union struggle to keep preserve Iran Nuclear Deal agreement Maas said, “Our opinion is and remains: We want to preserve the agreement, in particular to prevent Iran from coming into possession of nuclear weapons, We don’t need further escalation in the region”.
  In September 2019, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called a meeting between Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong and Maas as "disrespectful of China's sovereignty and an interference in China's internal affairs".
  Maas condemned the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria and warned that the offensive would cause more destabilization in the region and could cause ISIS to grow.
  On 3 January 2020, the high-level Iranian General, Qasem Soleimani, was assassinated by the United States, which considerably heightened the existing tensions between the two countries. Maas said that the airstrikes had not "made it easier to reduce tensions", but noted they "followed a series of dangerous Iranian provocations".
caption: Maas with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on 15 February 2019
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