A German frigate and supply ship are currently participating in exercises with global allies in the Indo-Pacific.
Two German warships are sailing to Indonesia via the Taiwan Strait despite Beijing’s opposition. It’s the first time in 22 years that German warships have passed through the disputed waters between China and Taiwan.
German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius confirmed the transit on Sept. 13 at a press conference, saying that the German Navy’s frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the supply ship Frankfurt am Main were sailing toward the Taiwan Strait.
Pistorius said that “international waters are international waters” and that the transit of Taiwan Strait is in line with international laws.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed the German warships passed through Taiwan Strait on Sept 13. The minister of defense said on the afternoon of Sept.13 that Taiwan’s military closely monitored activities in the air and water around Taiwan when the transit took place that morning.
The German warships are currently participating in exercises in the Indo-Pacific with navies from France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and the United States. They have visited Japan and South Korea.
The Taiwan Strait, a waterway that separates China from Taiwan, is a crucial international maritime route through which about half of global container ships pass.
While freedom of navigation in international waters is protected under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims it has jurisdiction over the strait, saying it’s part of China’s exclusive economic zone and sovereignty over Taiwan. Taiwan strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.
The CCP’s military has frequently deployed military aircraft and warships to conduct military drills in the Taiwan Strait and its surrounding sea and air space to exert military pressure on Taiwan in recent years.
While the German ships were docked at Incheon port in South Korea on Sept. 6, German fleet commander Rear Adm. Axel Schulz declined to confirm whether the ships would pass through the Taiwan Strait on their way from South Korea to Southeast Asia, citing operational safety concerns.
“Safe and secure sea lanes, especially from Southeast Asia as well as to Europe and America, are a prerequisite for a prosperous economy of all our countries,” Schulz said of the purpose of the operation.
German magazine Spiegel reported that the German warships planned to sail through the Taiwan Strait on Sept. 7.
When asked about Spiegel’s report, the spokesperson for the CCP’s Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, said on Sept. 9 that Beijing “firmly opposes the provocation and endangerment of China’s sovereignty and security by relevant countries in the name of freedom of navigation.”
The German Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee chair, Michael Roth, criticized the Chinese regime’s objection to the German warships’ plan to pass through the Taiwan Strait on social media platform X on Sept. 9.
“We are reinforcing the freedom of navigation and stability in a strategically important region for us. … A transit is not a provocation,” Roth wrote in the post. “We stand for peace and security in the Taiwan Strait and oppose any unilateral and violent changes to the status quo by China. It is a misconception to think that leniency will lead China to reconsider.”
Increased Military Presence
Chung Chih-tung, assistant research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times on Sept. 9 that since the G7 summit of the seven major Western industrial countries made its first statement in 2021, emphasizing the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, “Germany has demonstrated its concern for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait with concrete actions, rather than just words.”
Both Taiwan and China are important trading partners of Germany. China has a huge market, while Taiwan’s advanced semiconductor chip industry is needed for Germany’s economic development. Germany, along with other Western countries, has recently increased its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Chung said Germany is the friendliest to China among European Union (EU) countries.
“This time, the German warship deliberately passed through the Taiwan Strait, which is a statement that shows the warming of relations between Germany and Taiwan,“ he said. ”It especially follows TSMC’s (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) commitment to set up a factory in Germany with the German government’s support in early August. Germany’s prime minister and other important officials attended the event.”
According to Chung, Germany’s emphasis on the right to free navigation is “ to prevent the occurrence of war in the Taiwan Strait, and to prevent Taiwan from being blocked by the CCP, because it’s closely related to Germany’s interests.”
He said that German warships participating in the joint drills from East Asia to Southeast Asia “specially chose to pass through the Taiwan Strait to show the security correlation between the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and South China Sea.”
U.S. naval ships have sailed through the Taiwan Strait four times this year.
Invasion Concerns
Shu Hsiao-Huang, associate research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times on Sept. 9 that if China is to invade Taiwan, the United States might get involved directly, while it’s unlikely that Germany or other G7 countries will send boots on the ground.
“If a military conflict does occur, among Taiwan’s allies in the Indo-Pacific region, the U.S. military is more able to deal with it, while other countries will support the U.S. military in different ways,” he said.
Shu said that the German warships’ planned transit through the Taiwan Strait is more of a “political statement” than an indication of direct military involvement in the potential war there.
Chung noted that NATO’s Washington Declaration stated its concern for security in the Indo-Pacific region and that it has taken specific actions to get involved in Indo-Pacific affairs.
“As the tensions between the United States and China have increased, NATO’s involvement in Indo-Pacific security will continue to expand. This will certainly have a serious impact on the China-EU relationship, and it will also increase the potential for conflict between the EU and China,” he said.
Luo Ya and Reuters contributed to this report.