The German supply ship Frankfurt am Main and frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg are on their way to Jakarta via the Taiwan Strait, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said in Berlin yesterday.
It is the first such transit by a German warship in 22 years.
Pistorius confirmed the transit during a news conference he held jointly with Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis, saying that the two naval vessels were approaching the Taiwan Strait.
Photo: AFP
“International waters are international waters” and the transit of the Strait complies with international laws, Pistorius said.
The transit is being made because the German vessels see it as the shortest and safest route under the weather conditions, the minister added.
The transit was first reported by the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday last week.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said such transits “provoke and endanger China’s sovereignty and security under the pretext of ‘freedom of navigation.’”
In Taipei, the Ministry of National Defense said its armed forces closely monitored activities in the air and water around Taiwan when the transit took place that morning.
A business group in Europe’s largest economy, the Federation of German Industries, welcomed the move.
“German industry is encouraging the federal government to maintain the already eroding rules-based international order as far as possible,” executive board member Wolfgang Niedermark told the Handelsblatt financial daily.
Rules are only valid if they are enforced consistently, and “Germany too must take responsibility for this,” he added.
EU countries have been increasing their presence in the Indo-Pacific region more broadly this year, Institute for National Defense and Security Research assistant analyst Hsu Chih-hsiang (許智翔) said.
“EU nations are unlikely to send vessels or troops if China invaded Taiwan, but they are still able to send warship in peacetime to show their concerns,” he said.
Germany mulled sending a frigate through the Taiwan Strait several years ago, but canceled the plan as then-German chancellor Angela Merkel did not want to irritate China, he added.
The US conducts regular transits through the Strait, and France, the UK and Canada have all sent vessels in recent years.
German Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael Roth earlier this month defended his nation’s actions.
“A transit is not a provocation,” he wrote on X.
“We stand for peace and security in the Taiwan Strait and oppose any unilateral and violent changes to the status quo by China,” he added.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the