german warships are going in the wrong direction by showing off their presence in the asia-pacific region
2024-09-18
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
cui hongjian
after the frigate "bavaria" conducted the german navy's first "crossing of the south china sea" in 20 years in march 2021, two german warships, the frigate "baden-württemberg" and the supply ship "frankfurt", recently "visited" the asia-pacific region again, and they sailed through the taiwan strait. on the 16th, the two german warships also launched their first visit to the philippines in 20 years.
as for the reason why the german ship "traveled thousands of miles" to the asia-pacific, more than three years ago before the "bavaria" set sail, the german navy said it was "to show support for japan, the united states and other partners, and to jointly advocate peace, free navigation and a rules-based international order." for the larger tonnage and larger scale of the german ship sailing to the asia-pacific, germany could not give a more imaginative explanation than "maintaining freedom of navigation", but used vague words to create imagination and excuses. when announcing the sailing plan in may this year, german defense minister pistorius said, "tension in the (asia-pacific) region has put pressure on freedom of navigation and the free passage of trade."
this set of rhetoric may make some german and european people who only rely on western media and public opinion to understand the world situation imagine a scene of "the asia-pacific region is already on the verge of a war, and the wind is howling". but what will definitely confuse the countries and people in the asia-pacific region is that compared with the current security risks in europe, why does the much calmer asia-pacific region attract so many foreign "visitors" whose scale is increasing year by year? and more than three years later, against the background of the adverse changes in the security situation in its own surrounding areas, why is germany so persistent in going thousands of miles away to "maintain the security of the asia-pacific region"?
since the judgment that "the times have turned" in response to the outbreak of the russian-ukrainian conflict, germany has been committed to achieving "re-militarization" with security priority and national defense upgrades, which is also reflected in its upgraded trend of establishing a military presence in the asia-pacific region. if the german warship's first voyage to the asia-pacific in 2021 was more of a "testing the waters" nature, then germany's attempt to establish a military presence in the asia-pacific region has become more targeted since then. during this period, air force and multi-service tactical synthesis exercises were successively carried out. this time, the german warship has set "crossing the taiwan strait" as one of its planned goals. china will naturally not sit idly by and watch the so-called "maintaining freedom of navigation" to hype up "tensions in the asia-pacific situation" and even try to interfere in the taiwan issue. in response to german officials' claim that the german warship's passage through the taiwan strait "actually supported the principle of freedom of navigation", a spokesperson for the chinese ministry of foreign affairs refuted it on the 13th, saying that the taiwan issue is not an issue of freedom of navigation, but an issue concerning china's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
according to common sense, how to deal with the russia-ukraine conflict and its spillover effects under the current circumstances should be the top priority of germany's security policy; how to develop the economy to make up for the fiscal deficit should be the priority of the german government. however, there are unspeakable reasons behind germany's abnormal behavior.
first, germany, which lacks strategic autonomy, will "support its allies" in the asia-pacific region as part of its security protection fee to the united states. in order to prove that it is "of great value" to the united states, germany not only keeps talking about the "maintaining freedom of navigation" in the asia-pacific region invented by the united states, but also presents the so-called "principle of indivisible eurasian security" in a very peculiar way.
second, the german ruling coalition, which is in an increasingly awkward domestic situation, has just suffered a "heavy blow" from the elections in the eastern region. some forces within the government need to divert domestic conflicts by "showing off" their military presence in the distant asia-pacific region, so that domestic public opinion can temporarily forget the embarrassment faced by the three-party coalition government.
third, from a competitive perspective, the united states needs to show its presence in front of china and accumulate bargaining chips for participating in the game between major powers.
based on these complex mentalities and under the constant instigation and encouragement of western public opinion, germany only follows the lead of the united states in the current devastated european security and has little to do. however, in the so-called "indo-pacific direction", it has continuously upgraded its presence from the south china sea to the taiwan strait, from warships to fighter jets; it does not regard the development of economic and trade and the expansion of market connectivity as the focus of its asia-pacific policy, but instead has to take money from the increasingly tight government finances to support its ideal of military presence in the asia-pacific and maintain the "asia-pacific security" imagined by some germans. what we see is such a germany that has lost its way in the search for a sense of existence and puts itself at greater risk in order to obtain the so-called "security guarantee". ironically, baden-württemberg, where the german frigate was named, is one of the most economically developed regions in germany, and trade with the so-called "challenging" china and the "risky" asia-pacific region is the state's main source of economic growth and fiscal revenue.
if germany returns to common sense and rationality, it can maintain its economic development, political stability and social prosperity in an effective way, and gain an international presence in a more respected way. as europe's largest and most externally dependent economy, supporting globalization, opposing protectionism, and promoting harmony and win-win cooperation are the best ways for the german economy to revitalize and get out of its current predicament; the mainstream political parties must change their ways and have the courage to face domestic problems, which is the way out for german politics to get out of its predicament and rebuild consensus.
similarly, a germany that transforms its deep fear and reflection of war and turmoil into a firm belief and decisive action to suppress conflicts and reject war through peaceful means and diplomatic means will gain more respect from the outside world and have more qualifications and potential to join the ranks of world powers than a germany that continues to lose itself and begins to "turn plowshares into ships", which not only drags down the economy but also fails to resolve political contradictions. (the author is a professor at the institute of regional and global governance, beijing foreign studies university)▲# hundreds of reviews#
