Updated Sept. 9, 2024, 06:35 a.m. ET.
Beijing on Monday responded to the news of a planned passage through the Taiwan Strait by two German warships, warning against “provoking and endangering China’s sovereignty and security under the guise of freedom of navigation.”
Germany’s navy is planning to send two ships through the Taiwan Strait in mid-September, German media reported.
It will be the first passage by German warships through the waterway between Taiwan and mainland China in more than 20 years.
The frigate Baden-Württemberg and replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main are set to sail through the Strait on their way from South Korea to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.
China claims control over Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait and the ships could provoke a diplomatic dispute, the magazine said, adding that Berlin would not send notice of the voyage, which it considers “completely normal.”
In response, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters in Beijing that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory” and the waters of the Taiwan Strait from both sides to the sea are China’s waters.
The United States and allies insist that the Taiwan Strait is where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.
U.S. naval vessels made four transits this year, the last one was on Aug. 22 by the guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson.
Chinese spokeswoman Mao Ning said that China “respects the navigation rights enjoyed by all countries” but any passage should be done in accordance with Chinese laws and international law.
China itself regularly sends ships and aircraft to the waters around Taiwan.
On Monday, 21 Chinese aircraft and seven warships were detected operating around the island, Taiwan’s defense ministry said.
‘Unfriendly move’
China’s state media have warned that the sailings would be seen as an unfriendly move and damaging for China-Germany relations.
The Global Times , an affiliate of the Communist Party's People's Daily mouthpiece, quoted an unidentified research fellow from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations as saying that the two ships' movement would serve as a "strategic gesture to play up to the U.S. and NATO, particularly in light of the U.S. efforts to counter China's influence in trade and to secure greater American support for European security."
It will be seen by China as a gesture of flexing muscles and an unfriendly move, said the expert.
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The Baden-Württemberg and Frankfurt am Main are on deployment to the Indo-Pacific, the German Bundeswehr, or armed forces, said in a press release. In July, they took part in the U.S.-led Rim of the Pacific – the world's largest naval exercise.
China is also embroiled in a tense stand-off with the Philippines over several disputed reefs in the South China Sea.
Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
Updated to add reaction from China's foreign ministry.