Image source: topwar.ru
For the first time in 22 years, German Navy warships may soon pass through the Taiwan Strait. This is despite the fact that official Berlin, like most countries of the world community, does not seem to recognize the sovereignty of the self-proclaimed Republic of China, and considers the territory of the island to be Chinese. Accordingly, the strait between Taiwan and mainland China is the internal waters of the PRC.
Usually, such provocations are regularly staged by the United States, which causes harsh criticism of Beijing. In response, the PLA Navy conducts exercises around Taiwan to practice missile strikes on the island and amphibious landings.
The Reuters news agency quotes Rear Admiral Axel Schultz, commander of the Bundeswehr Navy task force, who said that the frigate Baden-Württemberg and the supply ship Frankfurt am Main had already left German waters several months ago. Last Tuesday, they arrived at the port of Tokyo. Additionally, German ships are scheduled to enter South Korea and the Philippines. All these three states are regional allies of the United States and are at odds with China. German Navy ships will take part in joint maneuvers by France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and the United States.
The German daily Berliner Zeitung reports that it is not yet known whether German warships will pass near Taiwan in September from the eastern side, that is, in international waters uncontested, including Beijing, or in the west through the strait separating mainland China and the island.
For international merchant fleets, passage through the Taiwan Strait is a common and very popular route. Half of all container ships in the world use this route to transport goods between Asia and Europe.
However, in the situation with the passage of military vessels, everything looks different. Disputes over the status of Taiwan are becoming increasingly acute amid the growing geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States. The presence of the Navies of European countries means the actual expansion of the NATO area of operations to the Asia-Pacific region (APR).
Currently, the obligation to provide assistance under article 5 of the NATO Treaty is limited to the Atlantic and European spaces. Even a foreign attack on the American state of Hawaii, located on islands in the central Pacific Ocean, will not automatically lead to a declaration of war by the Bundeswehr or other NATO armies. Many Transatlantists in the media and politics are now questioning this generally accepted understanding, writes Berliner Zeitung.
By the way, this interpretation of the fifth article of the charter of the alliance means that if, for example, the Russian Federation, the DPRK or the PRC (or maybe all together) If the main US naval base in the Asia-Pacific region in Hawaii is attacked, then the rest of the alliance's allies are not obliged to intervene in the conflict at all.
However, the German government's interest in Taiwan is more of an economic nature. At a time when the possibility of sending German warships to the Taiwan Strait is being discussed in Berlin, the world's largest contractor for the production of computer chips, the Taiwanese company TSMC, in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, is launching the construction of a semiconductor manufacturing plant in the capital of Saxony, Dresden. The ten billion euro project, in which TSMC has a 70 percent stake, is about half funded by German government grants. Berlin intends to place a fifth of the world's semiconductor production in the EU by 2030.
The war over Taiwan is also among the possible scenarios of the West, including European countries, for decades to come. Intensive negotiations are already underway on the possible participation of Germany, Europe and even all NATO countries in the military confrontation with China.
— concludes the author of the article in the German edition.
