By Sabine Siebold
BERLIN (Reuters) – Two German warships are waiting for orders from Berlin to decide whether they will be allowed to pass through the Taiwan Strait next month as the first German warships in decades, their commander said, sparking criticism from Beijing.
While the US and other countries, including Canada, have sent warships through the narrow strait in recent weeks, this would be the first passage through the strait for the German Navy since 2002.
China claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan and says it has jurisdiction over the nearly 180-kilometer-wide waterway that separates the two sides and is part of the South China Sea. Taiwan strongly opposes China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide its future.
The Taiwan Strait is an important trade route through which about half of the world’s container ships pass, and both the United States and Taiwan consider it an international waterway.
“The decision has not yet been made,” the commander of the naval task force, Rear Admiral Axel Schulz, said in a telephone interview with Reuters, adding that the weather would play a role.
“We are flying the flag here to demonstrate: We stand by our partners and friends, we are committed to a rules-based order, to the peaceful resolution of territorial conflicts and to free and safe shipping routes.”
When asked about the possible passage of the German ships, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that Taiwan was an internal Chinese matter and that the key to stability was to oppose Taiwan’s independence.
“China has always opposed the undermining of its territorial sovereignty and security under the guise of freedom of navigation,” ministry spokesman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.
Before their possible passage through the strait next month, the frigate Baden-Württemberg and the supply ship Frankfurt am Main plan to dock in Tokyo on Tuesday. They will also stop in South Korea and the Philippines.
They will participate in exercises in the region together with France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and the USA.
Over the past four years, Beijing’s military has increased its activities in the strait.
EXPANSION OF MILITARY PRESENCE
Beijing regularly condemns the passage of foreign, especially American, warships through this waterway. The country claims that such missions “undermine peace and stability” in the region.
Germany, for which both China and Taiwan with its huge chip industry are important trading partners, has also joined other Western nations in expanding its military presence in the region as concerns grow over Beijing’s territorial ambitions.
In 2021, a German warship crossed the South China Sea for the first time in almost 20 years.
Last month, the Air Force sent fighter jets to Japan to conduct the first joint exercises there.
Schulz said he was not planning any special security measures in case the warships under his command were to cross the Taiwan Strait. He described it as a “normal passage”, similar to crossing the English Channel or the North Sea.
However, he expected that every passage would be closely monitored.
“I expect the Chinese navy and possibly the coast guard or maritime militia to escort us,” he said, describing this as common practice.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; editing by Barbara Lewis and Sharon Singleton)
