German naval ships sail to sensitive Taiwan Strait

BERLIN, Germany — Two German naval vessels were heading into the Taiwan Strait on Friday, the German defense minister said, in a voyage expected to spark a diplomatic protest from Beijing.

Asked whether the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the supply ship Frankfurt am Main were headed into or through the Strait, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said "I can confirm that".

"And the message is a very simple one, which we have always supported... international waters are international waters," Pistorius told journalists in Berlin.

US and other military ships have often sailed through the sensitive waterway but it was the first time in over two decades that the German navy has done so, German media reports said.

Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province and claims jurisdiction over the body of water that separates the island from the Chinese mainland.

Germany and many other countries argue such voyages are usual, citing freedom of navigation in international waters.

The two German vessels were headed from South Korea to the Philippines, defense ministry officials said earlier.

Pistorius said that the course charted by the vessels was "the shortest route".

"It is the safest route given the weather conditions. And these are international waters, so we are sailing through them."

Global tracking service MarineTraffic on Friday showed the vessels sailing into the Strait, on a southerly course at a location to the west of Taipei.

German magazine Der Spiegel first reported the planned voyage last week, but German defense officials did not immediately confirm the plans.

Taiwan's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it "welcomes and affirms Germany, along with the US, Canada and the Netherlands, for taking actions to demonstrate the legal status of the Taiwan Strait as international waters, while defending freedom of navigation and maintaining regional peace at the same time".