Opinion | Germany may join US in opposing China by sending warship through Taiwan Strait, breaking decades of military non-confrontation
- Beijing claims the body of water, but the West regards it as an international waterway
- US sent two destroyers into strait in April to demonstrate ‘commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific’
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by John Vinocur on politico.com on June 5, 2019.
Germany is considering a break from decades of military non-confrontation.
High ranking officials are contemplating sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait – joining the United States and France in challenging Beijing’s claims to what the West regards as an international waterway.
If Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government actually goes ahead, it will be a remarkable revision of its we-keep-out-of-conflict reflexes. Germany will be openly backing its allies in a strategy certain to be found provocative by the country’s enforcers of non-combatant passivity.
Recent examples of Germany’s reluctance to engage include the withdrawal of its navy from the combat zone during the West’s Libyan intervention in 2011, caveats on its troop deployments in Afghanistan and its decision not to participate directly in attacks on Islamic State forces in Syria – unlike its Nato neighbours Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and France.