Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
BERLIN, June 4 (Reuters) - Germany will send two warships
to the Indo-Pacific in 2024, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday, amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan and over the disputed South China Sea.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia's most
important security conference, Pistorius said countries needed to stand up for
the rules-based international order and the protection of major maritime passages.
"To this end, the German Federal Government sent a frigate to the Indo-Pacific in 2021, and will again, in 2024, deploy maritime assets - this time a frigate and a supply ship - to the region," he said, according to a
script of his speech distributed by the defence ministry
in Berlin.
He added the deployments were not directed against any nation, a remark apparently addressed at China.
"To the contrary: They are dedicated to the protection of the rules-based international order that we all signed up to and which we all should benefit from - be it in the Mediterranean, in the Bay of Bengal or in the South China Sea."
By showing a greater military presence in the
region, Germany is walking a tightrope between its security and economic interests as China is Berlin's most important trading
partner.
In 2021, a German warship sailed into the South China Sea for the
first time in almost 20 years, a move that saw Berlin joining other Western nations in expanding its military presence in the region amid growing alarm over China's territorial ambitions.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, despite an international tribunal ruling that Beijing has no legal basis for
these claims, and has built military outposts on artificial islands in the waters that contain gas fields and rich fishing.
Some 40% of Europe's foreign trade flows through the South China Sea.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Nick Macfie)