Posted on 08/03/2021 5:37:34 AM PDT by blam
In an almost unprecedented move, Germany has joined the US and UK in bolstering its military presence in the South China Sea, on Monday sending a warship to contested waters to counter China’s expanding territorial ambitions for the first time in two decades.
Reuters cited defense officials in Berlin who said “the German navy will stick to common trade routes,” who further described that “The frigate is not expected to sail through the Taiwan Strait either, another regular U.S. activity condemned by Beijing.”
German Navy’s F 217 FGS Bayern
“Nevertheless, Berlin has made it clear the mission serves to stress the fact Germany does not accept China’s territorial claims,” the report added.
German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in a fresh statement stressed that “We want existing law to be respected, sea routes to be freely navigable, open societies to be protected and trade to follow fair rules.” And a statement made last week by Kramp-Karrenbauer explained that “Stronger defense and security cooperation fills the multilateralism that is so important to us with life and strengthens the partnership with friends in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.”
The German frigate now en route to the region has been identified as the “Bayern” – which is kicking off a seven month voyage to the Indo-Pacific, including stops in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. As the maritime monitoring site Naval News details:
On the way, exercises are planned with the navies of Australia, Singapore, Japan and the United States of America.
…The vessel is expected to cross the South China Sea in mid-December, making it the first German warship to pass through the region since 2002.
US pass throughs of the contested Taiwan Strait – again which Germany is not expected to undertake itself – have now been a monthly feature of President Biden’s policy and stance toward China.
Berlin has the added pressure, however, of not wanting to introduce new tensions with Beijing given China has lately become Germany’s most important trading partner.
HMS Queen Elizabeth and escort ships, via Royal Navy.
UK’s Sending 2 Warships To Japan Infuriates China – Warns Against “Flexing Muscles”
Japan Demands Global Response For ‘Survival Of Taiwan’ After China’s Nuclear Threat
A TRUMP EFFECT !
President Trump showed world leaders how to stand up with a straight backbone and unwaveringly say; "BRING IT"
Haha ...China must be shaking in its boots .
I wonder if the German sailors have a picture of Angela Merkel in her bikini taped to the inside of their locker?
Hubba hubba. Would Laz???
Why, when the folks that need to be building up their navies are Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Australia and India?? Do they really think Germany will come to their defense???
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/one-giant-leap-1432-profit-gain
Haag-Lloyd is expected to triple full-year profits this year.
The Germans had best quit while their ships are still floating.
The Quad in the Indo-Pacific: What to Know
The Quad, composed of the United States, Australia, India, and Japan, is not a formal alliance. Still, the group has intensified its security and economic ties as tensions with China rise.
What does the Quad do?
The Quad, officially the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is a group of four countries: the United States, Australia, India, and Japan. Maritime cooperation among them began after the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. But today the countries—all democracies and vibrant economies—work on a far broader agenda, which includes tackling security, economic, and health issues.
Over the years, the Quad’s diplomacy has waxed and waned. It is a loose grouping rather than a formal alliance. Japan initially emphasized the democratic identity of the four nations, whereas India seemed more comfortable emphasizing functional cooperation. Australian leaders have been reluctant about creating the impression that the group is a formal alliance.
As of 2021, leaders in all four countries have become more aligned in their shared concerns about China’s increasingly assertive behavior in the region and are more willing to define a constructive agenda of cooperation. All four navies participated in their first joint exercise in over a decade in November 2020. And in March 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden convened a virtual Quad meeting attended by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. They formed working groups on COVID-19 vaccines, climate change, and technological innovation and supply-chain resilience.
What are U.S. interests in the Quad?
More on:
Security Alliances
United States
Japan
Australia
India
Working closely with these countries is natural for the United States. Australia and Japan are U.S. treaty allies, and India is an important strategic partner. The Donald Trump administration worked closely with these countries, and the Biden administration is expanding the Quad’s agenda.
The Indo-Pacific spans two oceans and several continents, making it important to U.S. maritime interests. In 2019, $1.9 trillion [PDF] worth of U.S. trade passed through the region. This year, 42 percent of the world’s exports and 38 percent of global imports are expected to pass through, according to a UN report.
China’s growing willingness to challenge the regional status quo worries Washington, and Beijing’s challenging of democratic values over the past year has deepened other Quad partners’ concerns as well. China’s pursuit of its regional interests—including its crackdown on Hong Kong’s freedoms and criticism of nations that take issue with its actions—has not been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Quad’s agenda is not all about China. Leaders of the four nations also see a need for a more proactive approach to solving humanitarian and economic challenges caused by COVID-19.
What are Japan’s aims for the Quad?
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was a strong believer in the Quad’s power to ensure a “free and open Indo-Pacific.” Abe worked to persuade the Trump administration of the value of this coalition approach across the Indo-Pacific.
Japan depends heavily on open sea lanes for its trade with the world. The U.S. and Japanese militaries already work closely across the region, and Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have slowly built relationships [PDF] with their Australian and Indian counterparts. Similarly, Japan has played an important role in supporting investment [PDF] in manufacturing, trade, and infrastructure development across the region.
Japan and its Quad partners share concerns about China’s role in the region and Beijing’s challenges to the rule of law. Beijing’s assertion of its sovereignty in the South China Sea, as well as Chinese provocations toward islands China and Japan both claim in the East China Sea, has made Tokyo wary of China’s military build-up. Strategic consultations with other Quad partners are vital.
Similarly, Japan is watching carefully as China imposes economic conditionality on countries in the Indo-Pacific, and it wants to offer Southeast Asian countries alternative sources of assistance and commerce to offset China’s growing influence. Tokyo has joined with Washington and Canberra to deepen the funds available for quality infrastructure. Bolstering the resilience of the Quad nations, especially for critical supply chains for goods such as semiconductors, will also be a Japanese priority.
How has China responded?
China’s relations with each of the Quad members have become more tense during the pandemic. U.S.-China tensions remain high; Beijing’s frustration was conspicuous when the new Biden foreign policy team had its first meeting with its Chinese counterpart in Alaska in March. Australia continues to bear the brunt of Chinese economic sanctions after suggesting a World Health Organization investigation into the origins of COVID-19 last year. India and Japan have clashed with China over territorial disputes. China’s ambassador to Tokyo has publicly criticized Prime Minister Suga, claiming that the new Quad diplomacy reflects a “Cold War mentality” and that it is “100 percent outdated.” In addition, recent polls have shown negative views of China have soared among publics across the region.
Yet, few policymakers in the Quad countries see an advantage in trying to contain Chinese influence militarily. Instead, the Quad leaders have emphasized cooperation across areas of shared interest to bolster confidence in the democracies’ ability to counter China’s assertion of regional influence. As long as tensions with China remain, the Quad’s agenda is likely to expand as the democracies of the Indo-Pacific seek to balance China’s growing power.
https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/quad-indo-pacific-what-know
Don’t even suggest such a thing. I just had breakfast.
In WWII Germany didn't have to worry about China, now it's the other way around.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino%E2%80%93German_cooperation_(1926%E2%80%931941)
None of them are there to protect freedom.
None of them.
The German Navy for the most part has been effective, though small. One more destroyer isn’t going to change the balance of power in the SCS. But allowing Germany to extend power beyond its borders has generally been a problem for the world.
Germany has a boat that can actually leave port?!
The hotter the CCP makes things, the Quad may grow to include the Philippines, Vietnam and possibly even Indonesia and Malaysia. In my view it should be growing like that anyway until the CCP abandons its “9 dash line” policy & attitude, and sends it to the dust bin of history which is where it belongs.
The CCP likes to claim it is undoing the weakness it had during the period when its emperor gave in to trade and trade port demands from everyone else. That is a lie. Most all of the undoing of THAT weakness was accomplished in the consolidation of the country under the CCP and now with the final nail being put in the coffin of an independent Hong Kong.
No, the CCP’s claims in the region are old and almost all never-acted on claims made over the centuries by its emperors - claims against territories always much closer to someone else than to China - the “9 dash line”.
That line is a an outline of pins on maps of the region in the oceans around China. Traders and fishermen from China would return home with tales of where they had been, where they had landed and what they had see. Many times, after they were debriefed by the emperor’s administration, the emperor would place a flag-pin on the map, with that act alone constituting the emperor’s claim that the place then belonged to China. The vast majority of the time now Chinese administration or occupation followed - just the pin on the map. As an example, one of the pins represents a tiny shoal that is less than 90 miles off the coast of Malaysia and more than 1,000 miles from anywhere on the coast of China. That - ancient imperial claims that seldom if ever were acted upon - is what Constitutes the CCP’s claims, and its agenda, in the region.
In Asian terms, it is very correct to say that the CCP is making China the new bully in the region and it is in no way recapturing what was once China’s.
What should be done or how it should be done is far, far above my pay grade.
My point in posting the article is to give a look see that something is in fact being done on a fairly large scale to counter China
I suspect that the effort was established or at least joined by the Trump administration and the progressive domestic enemies are loathe to accept or publicize the alliance.
Your point agrees with Chinese attitudes toward the british warship bound for the south china sea.
agree that Germany by itself would not be of much use to taiwan. but if you get a dozen or two dozen countries in on the game—then the game changes.
People generally are satisfied that germany is following the rest of europe in decay and self destruction.
So there is less of a problem with them making gestures.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.