BERLIN: Two German naval vessels sailed through a waterway near Taiwan on Friday, the country’s defence minister said in Berlin, in a rare voyage expected to spark a protest from Beijing.
Asked whether the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the supply ship Frankfurt am Main were headed through the Taiwan Strait, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said: “I can confirm that.
“And the message is a very simple one, which we have always supported... international waters are international waters.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz later brushed off a question on the issue at a press conference, remarking
that “there is not much to say... it’s an international waterway”.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a brief statement that “a German frigate and a supply ship sailed through the Taiwan Strait from north to south since this morning”.
“The military has monitored the situation and no anomaly was detected in our surroundings.”
US and other military ships have often sailed through the sensitive waterway, but it was the first time in over two decades that the German navy has done so.
Germany and many other countries argue such voyages are usual, citing freedom of navigation. The two German vessels were headed from South Korea to the Philippines, defence ministry officials said.
Pistorius said that the course charted by the vessels was “the shortest route”.
“It is the safest route given the weather conditions. And these are international waters, so we are sailing through them.”
Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2024
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