JAKARTA - Germany will send two warships to the Indo-Pacific by 2024, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday, amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan over the disputed South China Sea.
Speaking to the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue 2023 in Singapore, Defense Minister Pistorius said countries need to defend an international order based on rules and protection of major maritime routes.
"For this purpose, the German Federal Government sent a frigate to the Indo-Pacific in 2021, and will again deploy maritime assets, this time frigates and supply ships, to the region in 2024," he said. according to a speech script shared by the Ministry of Defense, reported by Reuters June 5.
He added that the deployment was not addressed to any country, a statement that appeared to be addressed to China.
"In fact, the opposite: they are dedicated to protecting the international order based on the rules we all agree on and that we must take advantage of - either in the Mediterranean, in Bengal Bay, or in the South China Sea," said the German Defense Minister.
By showing greater military presence in the region, Germany is running among its security and economic interests as China is Berlin's most important trading partner.
In 2021, a German warship sailed to the South China Sea for the first time in nearly 20 years, a move that saw Berlin join other Western countries in expanding its military presence in the region, amid growing concerns over China's territorial ambitions.
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It is known, China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, although international courts have ruled Beijing has no legal basis for this claim, and has built military posts on artificial islands in waters containing rich gas and fisheries fields.
Meanwhile, about 40 percent of European foreign trade flows through the South China Sea, making it a strategic and high-value region.
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