The German defence chief told Reuters that Germany would expand its military presence in the Indo-Pacific by sending more warships and joining exercises with allies as it monitors the “huge” build-up of China’s armed forces.
Germany joins other Western nations in showing more muscle in the region amid growing alarm over Beijing’s territorial ambitions.
Last year, Berlin sent its first warship in nearly 20 years to the disputed waters of the South China Sea, at the risk of angering its leading trading partner. This month, it sent 13 military aircraft to joint exercises in Australia.
General Eberhard Zorn told Reuters the Bundeswehr planned to send troops to take part in training exercises in Australia next year, while the navy would send several more ships to the region in 2024.
“This is how we want to consolidate our presence in the region,” Zorn said in an interview at the Defense Ministry in Berlin.
Historically, Germany has been timider in its security policy than its allies due to its role in two world wars, focusing more on trade in its international relations, with China’s rapid economic expansion fueling its growth and making the country its leading trading partner in 2016.
But partners have recently called on Germany to show more leadership, in keeping with its might as Europe’s largest economy and most populous country.
In 2020, Berlin published a new Indo-Pacific strategy focusing on strengthening alliances with democracies in the region, marking a turning point. Then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in February pledged a dramatic hike in spending on the military after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tensions in the Indo-Pacific are running exceptionally high after China carried out its largest-ever military drills around democratically-governed Taiwan, which it claims as its territory, at the start of August.
Asked whether Germany might send a warship sailing through the Taiwan Strait like the United States, Zorn said it was a sensitive matter decided upon at the highest political level.
“We do not want to provoke anyone with our presence but rather send a strong sign of solidarity with our allies,” he said. “We stand for the freedom of navigation and safeguarding international norms.”
Zorn said China’s military strength once lay in its number of soldiers; now, its armed forces were also getting technologically well equipped.
“We are observing an enormous buildup of Chinese forces,” he said.