A German warship yesterday sailed into the South China Sea for the first time in almost 20 years, a move that sees Berlin joining other Western nations in expanding its military presence in the region amid growing alarm over China’s territorial ambitions.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, despite an international tribunal ruling that Beijing has no legal basis for these claims, and it has built military outposts on artificial islands in the waters that contain gas fields and rich fishing.
The German Navy vessel has begun the transit through the South China Sea on its way to Singapore that is expected to take several days, a spokesperson for the German Federal Ministry of Defense said.
The frigate Bayern is the first German warship to cross the South China Sea since 2002, waters that 40 percent of Europe’s foreign trade flows through.
The US Navy, in a show of force against China’s territorial claims, regularly conducts so-called “freedom of navigation” operations in which their vessels pass close to some of the contested islands.
China, in turn, objects to the US missions, saying they do not help promote peace or stability.
Washington has put countering China at the heart of its national security policy and seeks to rally partners against what it says are Beijing’s increasingly coercive economic and foreign policies.
Officials in Berlin have said the German Navy would stick to common trade routes. The frigate is not expected to sail through the Taiwan Strait.
Nevertheless, the former German government made it clear the mission serves to reinforce the fact that Germany does not accept China’s territorial claims.
Germany is walking a tightrope between its security and economic interests as China has become Berlin’s most important trading partner. German exports there have helped mitigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on Europe’s biggest economy.
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