Just before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arrival in Paris on May 5, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, currently in New Zealand, considers it opportune to make anti-China remarks. There, she did not rule out the possibility of the German frigate Baden-Württemberg crossing the Taiwan Strait during its upcoming Pacific mission. That, she claimed, would emphasize the “right of peaceful passage.”
Crossing the Taiwan Strait could be seen as a provocation by China. Whereas Germany has been carefully avoiding sending military vessels through the Strait, it is now joining the United States, Great Britain and France, which do maintain a military presence in the Taiwan Strait between the island and mainland.
