China is discontented with the German Navy’s warships’ plans to pass through the Taiwan Strait
21 August, 2024 German frigate Baden-Wurttemberg in a Japanese port. August 2024. Japan.
Photo credits: German Navy Beijing warned Germany not to deploy its warships through the strait between Taiwan and China. Newsweek reported that China considers this to be interference in the country's internal affairs.
The German government has not yet made a final decision on the matter, and two German warships are awaiting orders from Berlin to sail next month through the 180-kilometer-wide Taiwan Strait that separates Taiwan and China. If this happens, the frigate Baden-Wurttemberg and the supply ship Frankfurt am Main will be the first German warships to pass through the strait since 2002. The People's Republic of China claims sovereignty over the island of Taiwan, which is controlled by the Republic of China and believes it has jurisdiction over the strait, which separates the island from the mainland and is part of the South China Sea.
Taiwan Strait on the map
Authorities in Taiwan strongly deny China's claims to its sovereignty.
"The decision has not been made yet," Rear Admiral Axel Schulz, Commander of the German naval task force, told Reuters in a telephone interview, adding that the weather would be a factor in the decision. "We are showing our flag here to demonstrate that we stand by our partners and friends, our commitment to the rules-based order, the peaceful solution of territorial conflicts, and free and secure shipping lanes," the German commander added. Answering a question about the potential passage of German ships, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Taiwan is China's internal affair and that opposing Taiwan's independence is the key to stability.
"Beijing has always opposed the undermining of China's territorial sovereignty and security under the guise of freedom of navigation," spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.
German frigate Baden-Wurttemberg and replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main in a Japanese port. August 2024, Japan. Photo credits: German Navy
Newsweek reminds us that US warships regularly pass through the Taiwan Strait.
The USS Halsey destroyer last passed through this May. On July 31, a Canadian frigate also passed through the strait. The United States, Canada, and Germany are NATO member states.
The German ships arrived in Tokyo on August 20 after crossing the Atlantic Ocean, visiting New York, and entering the Pacific Ocean through the Panama Canal.
They will participate in exercises in the region alongside France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and the United States.