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(Bloomberg) — Germany sent its first warship through the Taiwan Strait in 22 years, defying China\u2019s warnings as relations between the two sides fray over trade and Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
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The Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg frigate and a support vessel sailed through the strait on Friday, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at a news conference in Berlin.<\/p>\n
\u201cInternational waters are international waters,\u201d Pistorius told reporters. \u201cIt is the shortest and, given the weather conditions, also the safest route,\u201d he added. Asked about the ship\u2019s voyage later on Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: \u201cThere\u2019s not much to say about the passage of ships. It\u2019s an international waterway.\u201d<\/p>\n
China said in a statement posted on the Eastern Theater Command\u2019s Wechat account on Saturday that the move posed a \u201csecurity risk\u201d along the Taiwan Strait and sent \u201cincorrect signals.\u201d China\u2019s Eastern Theater is always on high alert and will resolutely counter all threats and provocations, spokesperson Colonel Li Xi said.<\/p>\n
The Chinese People\u2019s Liberation Army has organized sea and air forces in the area to follow and guard the whole process, according to the statement.<\/p>\n
Berlin\u2019s decision to go ahead with the rare voyage risks angering Beijing, which has ramped up military, economic and diplomatic pressure on Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who refuses to endorse the claim that his democratically run island is part of China. Beijing hasn\u2019t ruled out taking the territory by force.<\/p>\n
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called any transit an \u201cact of provocation under the pretext of freedom of navigation\u201d this month, when asked about Berlin\u2019s plans. Such actions \u201charm China\u2019s sovereignty and security,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s move highlights a growing willingness by US partners to defy President Xi Jinping and send vessels through one of the world\u2019s busiest shipping lanes. China doesn\u2019t claim sovereignty over the strait, but wants to regulate the waterway and protests transits by foreign powers.<\/p>\n
European Union countries have been increasing their presence in the Indo-Pacific region more broadly this year, according to Hsu Chih-hsiang, assistant analyst at Taiwan\u2019s Institute for National Defense and Security Research.<\/p>\n
\u201cEU nations are not likely to send over vessels or troops if China invades Taiwan,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they\u2019re still able to send warship in peacetime to show their concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Germany mulled sending a frigate through the Taiwan Strait several years ago but canceled the plan as then-Chancellor Angela Merkel didn\u2019t want to irritate China, he said. The US conducts regular transits through the strait, and France, the United Kingdom and Canada have all sent vessels in recent years.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s military has become more assertive toward Taipei, earlier this year sending a record swarm of warplanes across a US-drawn boundary in the Taiwan Strait. That comes as Beijing increasingly clashes with US ally the Philippines in the nearby South China Sea, where Xi also has territorial claims.<\/p>\n
Pistorius sounded the alarm earlier this year over China\u2019s growing military ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. \u201cFear is growing over Beijing\u2019s military buildup,\u201d he said, also citing \u201cits aggressive economic policies and its open quest for geopolitical dominance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berlin is trying to balance those security concerns with its important economic relationship with China. Scholz lined up with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez this week, calling for the EU to reconsider imposing tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars amid concerns the move could backfire on their domestic industries.<\/p>\n
Relations between Berlin and Beijing have cooled under Scholz, who has criticized the world\u2019s No. 2 economy for flooding his market with cheap products. The Chinese leader\u2019s support for Russia despite its war in Ukraine has become another thorny issue in bilateral ties.<\/p>\n
Michael Roth, chairman of the German parliament\u2019s foreign affairs committee, earlier this month defended his nation\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cA transit is not a provocation,\u201d Roth, a member of Scholz\u2019s Social Democratic Party and a former deputy foreign minister, wrote on X. \u201cWe stand for peace and security in the Taiwan Strait and oppose any unilateral and violent changes to the status quo by China.\u201d<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s latest move was likely aimed at warning China against military adventurism, said Lin Po-Chou, an assistant research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s becoming important for Western countries to deter China\u2019s potential invasion of Taiwan in peacetime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
–With assistance from Jing Li, Iain Rogers and Tian Ying.<\/p>\n
(Updates with details from China\u2019s statement in fifth paragraph.)<\/p>\n
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