Will German warships pass through the Taiwan Strait?

The most important legs of the Germany Navy's current "Indo-Pacific Deployment” will begin when its ships set sail on the morning of Sunday, August 25.

After a five-day stopover in Japan, the frigate Baden-Württemberg and its supply ship Frankfurt am Main will leave Tokyo's terminal for South Korea. First, they will take part in military exercises with Japan, the United States, France and Italy to help monitor compliance with the UN Security Council's sanctions against North Korea.

Then they will travel from Incheon, South Korea to the Filipino capital Manila. This journey could involve passing through the Taiwan Strait, one of the busiest trade routes in the world, over which China claims jurisdiction. But the German government does not wish to discuss the hotly debated mission in advance.

No prior notice of transit

"There is no obligation under international law that the passage of ships in international waters must somehow be announced or notified in advance," Tobias Lindner, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, told DW during his three-day visit to Tokyo.

"The German government will also not set a precedent by announcing in advance whether we will sail through or not. We'll find out soon enough which route the two ships will take."

One factor in the decision will be weather conditions, which could potentially prevent a passage through the 180-kilometer-long strait.

In recent weeks, the US, Canada and other countries have all sent their own warships through the Taiwan Strait. But the last passage of a German naval vessel was around 22 years ago.

Back then, China insisted on its claim to Taiwan far less aggressively than today's President Xi Jinping has done. Beijing views Taiwan, an island around 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the southeastern Chinese coast, as a renegade province and has significantly increased its military activities in the area over the last four years. Taiwan, a democracy that is also the world leader in manufacturing technologically crucial semiconductors, denies China's claims over its territory and self-determination.

A geopolitical balancing act

Germany's Indo-Pacific guidelines from September 2020 and China strategy of July 2023 show that it is attempting a political balancing act: While Berlin accepts the One China principle and maintains diplomatic relations with Beijing, it also rejects the forcible appropriation of Taiwan by China and is increasing its military presence in the region, insisting that international sea routes must remain freely navigable in the rules-based world order.

China wants to gain control of important sea routes, Vice Admiral Christian Kaack, head of the German Navy, told the Japan Times. "We cannot close our eyes to this, otherwise it would imply that we accept the new status quo," he said, adding that vital arteries between trade and military ports were everyone's business, explaining: "No shipping, no shopping."

China has expressed clear displeasure at the planned passage. "China has always opposed undermining China's territorial sovereignty and security under the guise of 'freedom of navigation'," said a foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing. "The Taiwan issue is China's internal affair. The key to maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait lies in resolutely opposing 'Taiwan independence'."

German Rear Admiral Axel Schulz, who leads the two-ship convoy, told news agency Reuters that the passage through the Taiwan Strait was just as normal as the passage through the English Channel. "I expect the Chinese navy and potentially the coastguard or maritime militia to escort us," he said, adding that this was a common practice.

Securing supply chains

The F-125 class frigate Baden-Württemberg is the most modern warship in the German Navy — a "marathon runner" that specializes in maritime surveillance. Under the motto "Regionally rooted, globally committed," the German Navy is using it to establish its presence in the Indo-Pacific region. According to Schulz, this is the Navy's "most important project this year."

Unlike the six-month Indo-Pacific mission of the German frigate Bayern in 2021, this foray into the region has found few German critics, a change that Minister of State Lindner found unsurprising.

"On the one hand, the security situation has changed fundamentally, not only due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also because Germany has understood that our prosperity and therefore our security very much depends on security here in the Indo-Pacific," Lindner said. "It's about supply chains — for semiconductors, for example. And it's about ensuring that the international, rules-based order is universally valid."

The seven-month voyage of the German naval vessels began in early May in their home port of Wilhelmshaven, from which they traveled through the Panama Canal to Hawaii, where they took part in RIMPAC, the world's largest naval exercise. The five-week multinational maritime training event takes place every two years by invitation of the US Navy.

The latest port stop in Tokyo was intended to intensify defense cooperation with Japan. At the end of July, three Eurofighters from the German Air Force and four F-15 jets from the Japanese Air Force carried out the "Nippon Skies" maneuver over the northern island of Hokkaido. An agreement on the mutual provision of equipment and services between the German and Japanese armed forces also came into force in July.

After stops in South Korea and the Philippines, the two German ships will call in Singapore and India before returning to Germany.

This article was originally written in German.