The warning comes after two ships from the EU country passed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time in 22 years.
The passage of two German Navy ships through the Taiwan Strait on Friday “increased security risks” in the region, the Chinese military has said. Beijing's Foreign Ministry accused Berlin of organizing a “provocation” and violate the One China policy.
Taiwan has been de facto self-governed since 1949, when Nationalist forces lost the Chinese civil war to the Communists and fled to the island. Today, Taiwan is recognized as a sovereign nation by only 12 countries in the world. While on paper it adheres to the one-China policy, in which the Beijing government is the sole governing authority over Chinese territories, the United States has maintained unofficial relations with Taipei and supported it for decades.
China insists Taiwan is an inalienable part of its territory, and President Xi Jinping has warned that Beijing could resort to military force to regain control of the island.
In a post on X on Friday, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense confirmed that a “A German naval frigate and a supply ship sailed through the Taiwan Strait from north to south today.”
The passage of the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main was the first of its kind in 22 years.
A spokesman for the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command, Senior Captain Li Xi, said that “The actions of the German side have increased security risks and sent the wrong signals.”
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning stressed that “The Taiwan issue is not about freedom of navigation, but about China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” While Beijing respects the rights of other countries to navigate in international waters, as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it strongly opposes “any act of provocation under the pretext of freedom of navigation.”
The Chinese Embassy in Berlin clarified on Friday that the “The waters of the Taiwan Strait are China’s internal waters, territorial waters, contiguous zones and exclusive economic zones on both sides of the sea.”
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Friday that “International waters are international waters, it is the shortest route, it is the safest route given the weather conditions… so we passed.”
Despite repeated protests from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and France have sent warships through the waterway on multiple occasions.
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