Germany makes huge anti-China move; will send warship to Indian ocean to deepen Xi's woes

Germany’s Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has announced that one of the country’s warships will patrol the Indian Ocean as part of plans to manage China’s influence in the region. The development comes at a time when India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla held talks in Berlin on Monday to boost cooperation in areas ranging from post-pandemic recovery to the Indo-Pacific, and with China being increasingly encircled.

'Key is to translate this into real muscle'

Ahead of Shringla’s arrival in Berlin as part of a three-nation tour, the German Defence Minister told The Sydney Morning Herald that a German frigate is set to patrol the Indian Ocean next year and the country’s naval presence in the Indo-Pacific will help safeguard the rules-based order. “We hope to be able to deploy next year,” she said.

“We will be spending more on defence in 2021 than in 2020 despite the fact that [the Covid-19 pandemic] has hit our budgets. Now the key is to translate this into real muscle. I am convinced territorial disputes, violations of international law and China’s ambitions for global supremacy can only be approached multilaterally,” she said.

The Indian Navy has also significantly increased its deployment in the Indian Ocean Region in an attempt to send across a message to China in the wake of escalation in tension between the two countries over the border standoff in eastern Ladakh.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Monday met German Foreign Minister of State Niels Annen and held a productive exchange on shared priorities, including strengthening of multilateral structures. Shringla arrived in Berlin from France on the second leg of his three-nation European tour that also includes the UK.

Foreign Secretary meets German leaders

He also met with Jan Hecker, the Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and discussed with him on the multi-dimensional and rapidly growing cooperation between the two democracies, it said. Shringla also interacted with top German diplomats and think-tanks.

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In talks with interlocutors in Germany, Shringla will focus on India-Germany alignment in the reform of multilateral institutions for 21st-century realities; Germany's Indo-Pacific strategy and its compatibility with India's approach, the Indian mission said. Shringla is on a seven-day trip to Europe to review bilateral relations and discuss matters of mutual interest with key European nations. His visit to these countries is part of India's continuing diplomatic engagement despite limitations posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

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(With PTI inputs)