Boris Pistorius is not yet allowed to leave for his summer holiday. Germany’s Minister of Defense flew to Hawaii on Tuesday. However, it was not the beach that awaited him there, but the world’s largest military exercise, Rimpac 2024. This year, the German Armed Forces are participating in the annual exercise of the Indo-Pacific countries and their allies for the first time, including with two naval vessels. The aim is to show presence and forge long-term alliances, writes Michael Radunski. From Hawaii, Pistorius will continue on to South Korea and the Philippines.
Of course, as always with the Indo-Pacific, China is also involved. The relationship with the People’s Republic and the growing regional tensions shape the involvement of Germany and other Europeans. The two German warships will set off from Hawaii for the Indo-Pacific. It remains to be seen whether they will also pass through the Taiwan Strait on their journey – an act that Beijing has always seen as a provocation.
Meanwhile, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) met in Taipei. It was the first time that the group, considered China-critical, met in Taiwan, as David Demes, who spoke to some of the 49 MPs on site, explains. At the meeting, the IPAC accepted the Taiwanese parliament as a new member, a real milestone, according to Demes. The accession brought Taiwan under the “democratic umbrella,” said Boris Mijatovic, MP for the Green Party in the German Parliament. China reportedly pressured delegates from developing countries to abstain from the meeting. However, according to IPAC co-founder Reinhard Buetikofer, this was unsuccessful, and no one canceled their trip.
Germany’s Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, is in the Indo-Pacific. He landed in Hawaii on Tuesday and will then continue on to South Korea and the Philippines. The aim of the trip is for Germany to demonstrate its presence in the strategically important region-also militarily.
And so Pistorius’ first stop may fit perfectly with the image of a defense minister: He is attending the Rimpac2024 military exercise. The snazzy pictures of German soldiers alongside US Marines should not obscure Germany’s true role in the region. The focus is more on long-term and sustainable cooperation with regional partners and less on military presence. After all, Germany is more proficient in business, trade, research and civil society.
Germany’s involvement in the Indo-Pacific is shaped by its increasingly complicated relationship with China. The People’s Republic is building up its military and pursuing its goals with increasing determination – and not just against Taiwan. As a result, tensions in this economically vital region are on the rise.
Countries like Australia, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines are also at odds with China. So it is a good thing that Pistorius is not leaving it at the Rimpac visit, but will also travel to South Korea and the Philippines. The German government needs to make a sustained commitment to these countries – and pursue the “de-risking” approach with tangible agreements and arrangements. The coming days will show whether Pistorius can pull this off.
However, Pistorius first landed in the US state of Hawaii on Tuesday. This is where the world’s largest military exercise is currently underway at the Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac for short): Rimpac2024. Since 1971, military forces from Pacific Rim countries and other states with an interest in the Indo-Pacific have met every two years under US leadership. The main purpose of the exercise is to increase interoperability between the various units. This year, over 25,000 soldiers from around 28 countries are participating.
For the first time, the German Armed Forces send two combat ships to the massive exercise: the frigate “Baden-Wurttemberg” and the task force supply ship “Frankfurt am Main.” They are joined by three Eurofighters and two A400Ms for aerial refueling. It doesn’t take a discussion about the state of the German Armed Forces to realize that it is a mere symbolic project. In the event of an armed conflict in the Indo-Pacific, other Rimpac participants such as Australia, Japan, South Korea and, above all, the USA would be the deciding forces.
Symbolically significant is also whether the two German ships will pass through the Taiwan Strait on their following voyage through the South China Sea. In December 2021, the frigate “Bayern” was on a similar mission. The warship did not pass through the Taiwan Strait at that time.
This time, China’s government has again publicly warned against such a move. Beijing sees its sovereignty being threatened in the name of freedom of navigation. The government considers Taiwan to be an integral part of the People’s Republic and regards the passage of the USA, Great Britain and France as a provocation.
On the other hand, Taiwan’s former Foreign Minister Joseph Wu would welcome the passage. “If the German government wants to carry out more operations for freedom of navigation, that is very welcome,” Wu told the German magazine Der Spiegel in December. “It shows that they are willing not only to talk about it, but also to take concrete measures to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.” A few weeks ago, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock emphasized that the “right of peaceful passage” would also apply to the Taiwan Strait.
From a purely legal point of view, there is not even any question. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 (UNCLOS) – an agreement that was also signed by China – guarantees freedom of navigation. So, a mere “presence voyage” through the supposed “Chinese backyard” would merely be an insistence on applicable maritime law.
It is unlikely that China’s party and state leader, Xi Jinping, will be impressed by this. Nevertheless, China expert Angela Stanzel supported such a passage in an interview with Table.Briefings. “If we are going to show our presence in the Indo-Pacific and go to such great lengths, then it would be appropriate to approach it with a little self-confidence and make the journey through the Taiwan Strait,” the expert from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) says.
Incidentally, two Chinese warships passed through the 19-kilometer-wide Fehmarn Belt in the Baltic Sea a few days ago, largely uncriticised. The destroyer “Jiaozuo” and the naval supply ship “Honghu” passed through the narrow waterway heading east. Their destination: the Navy Day celebrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The Chinese newspaper Global Times commented: “The sailing of the Chinese warships conforms to the international law and practices.”
MPs from 24 countries and the European Parliament met in Taipei on Tuesday to discuss strategies for dealings with the People’s Republic of China. For the first time, the annual summit of the so-called “Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China” (IPAC) took place in Taiwan. With 49 MPs, it is the largest international delegation ever to visit the diplomatically isolated island republic.
The summit ended with a bang: At an international press conference, IPAC Executive Director Luke de Pulford announced that in addition to the parliaments of Colombia, Iraq, Malawi, the Solomon Islands, Gambia, and Uruguay, yet another parliament was joining the China-critical alliance: Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan.
The announcement came as a surprise to many observers in the room, as Taiwan’s membership had long remained uncertain due to a lack of involvement of the Taiwanese opposition. Although the comparatively China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) had not officially barred its members from participating, a high-ranking faction member made it clear that the party’s values were incompatible with those of the alliance.
“I heard that a member of the KMT originally wanted to register. Perhaps his party colleagues advised him not to participate in the end,” Chen Gau-Tzu from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) told Table.Briefings. Chen’s participation alongside DPP MP Fan Yun made Taiwan’s official admission to the organization possible today. IPAC requires representatives of different parliamentary groups to co-chair their respective sections.
The TPP actually pursues a policy of détente towards the People’s Republic. Nevertheless, the new co-chair, Chen Gau-Tzu, is not concerned that her participation in IPAC could affect her party’s relations with Beijing. “I have the full support of my parliamentary group,” Chen said Tuesday.
Boris Mijatovic, member of the German Parliament for the Green Party and co-chair of the German IPAC section, welcomed Taiwan’s admission to the alliance in an interview with Table.Briefings. By joining, Taiwan has found its way under the “democratic umbrella,” said Mijatovic. “We share democratic values, the rule of law and human rights, including the civil liberties of freedom of expression, freedom of the press and artistic freedom.”
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, who personally welcomed the summit participants on Tuesday, also spoke of a democratic umbrella. “China’s threat to any country is a threat to the whole world,” said Lai. Taiwan would do its utmost to work with its democratic partners to set up a democratic umbrella to ward off the threat of spreading authoritarianism.
Alongside Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim also addressed the delegates. Both warned against China’s attempts to reinterpret UN Resolution 2758 and use it to restrict Taiwan’s international participation further. Resolution No. 2758 excluded Chiang Kai-shek’s representatives from the United Nations in 1971 and handed over China’s seat in the UN to the People’s Republic of China.
In recent years, Beijing has increasingly treated the resolution as equivalent to its own “one-China principle” in an attempt to underpin its claims to Taiwan, despite the resolution text not mentioning Taiwan’s status. China was trying to “construct a legal basis for China’s military aggression against Taiwan,” Lai said.
In response, the IPAC delegates launched the “2758 Initiative” on Tuesday. According to a press release, the initiative aims to pass resolutions in their respective national parliaments “to reject Beijing’s distortion of international law regarding Taiwan’s status.”
In the run-up to the summit, reports surfaced that Beijing had attempted to prevent parliamentarians from traveling to Taiwan. At Tuesday’s press conference, Slovakian MEP Miriam Lexmann (EPP) explained that Chinese diplomats had requested a meeting with her party leader in Slovakia. She said it was “absolutely unacceptable” that representatives of the People’s Republic contacted IPAC members to restrict their freedom to travel and prevent them from carrying out their work. The diplomats’ behavior reminded her of her childhood under communist rule in Czechoslovakia, said Lexmann.
IPAC Executive Director Luke de Pulford called the Chinese campaign “gross foreign interference.” He told the Associated Press that it was “absolutely outrageous” that Beijing believed it could interfere in the travel plans of foreign MPs. Meanwhile, former MEP and IPAC co-founder Reinhard Buetikofer pointed out that not a single delegate had abstained from the summit due to Chinese pressure. “They failed miserably,” the 71-year-old said.
Mijatovic told Table.Briefings that he was not aware of any attempts to influence members of the German delegation. Nevertheless, he stressed that the danger should not be underestimated. He said that members from South America, in particular, were being put under pressure with economic incentives. “These countries are dependent,” says Mijatovic. In exchange, China would build “a sports hall or a Confucius Institute, or a city partnership or a telecommunications network. Keyword: Huawei. And then they say, if you want this to continue, please don’t do that.”
Mijatovic plans to increase the number of IPAC members in the German parliament. “My co-chair Michael Brandt and I have launched an initiative to involve even more people and expand the work.” His aim is not to work against the People’s Republic of China – but to get the People’s Republic to jointly uphold international law, especially in view of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
Mijatovic’s party colleague Bütikofer also stressed that the alliance is not an anti-Chinese organization, as the Global Times has repeatedly claimed. Nevertheless, the EU veteran politician said the IPAC will fight back if China intends to “overthrow our democratic order,” the veteran EU politician said.
Sinolytics is a research-based business consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and specific business activities in the People’s Republic.
The USA will postpone the introduction of high punitive tariffs against various Chinese imports by at least two weeks, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced on Tuesday. These include electric cars and their batteries, computer chips, and medical products. The tariffs originally should have come into force on Thursday (August 1). According to the USTR, however, it still has around 1,100 comments that need to be processed. These apparently include complaints from affected industries.
In May, Washington announced it would drastically increase tariffs on certain Chinese products from August. Electric cars will be subject to 100 percent, four times as much as before. The tariff on semiconductors is to double to 50 percent. Tariffs on solar modules, medical masks, and syringes are also set to rise sharply to up to 50 percent.
According to the White House, the new measures currently affect 18 billion US dollars worth of imported Chinese goods, including steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, critical minerals, solar cells and cranes. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the tariffs would increase the cost of each crane by 4.5 million US dollars, “causing a significant strain on the port’s limited resources.” It is unclear whether the reviews will result in any changes to the tariffs. ck/rtr
When pedestrians step onto the rainbow bridge in the port city of Qingdao, they are suddenly surrounded by magnificent light – a photographer’s delight. It is not entirely clear what exactly the blaze of color leading across the water stands for – but one thing is relatively certain: It is not meant as a public acknowledgement of the LBTQIA+ community.
Boris Pistorius is not yet allowed to leave for his summer holiday. Germany’s Minister of Defense flew to Hawaii on Tuesday. However, it was not the beach that awaited him there, but the world’s largest military exercise, Rimpac 2024. This year, the German Armed Forces are participating in the annual exercise of the Indo-Pacific countries and their allies for the first time, including with two naval vessels. The aim is to show presence and forge long-term alliances, writes Michael Radunski. From Hawaii, Pistorius will continue on to South Korea and the Philippines.
Of course, as always with the Indo-Pacific, China is also involved. The relationship with the People’s Republic and the growing regional tensions shape the involvement of Germany and other Europeans. The two German warships will set off from Hawaii for the Indo-Pacific. It remains to be seen whether they will also pass through the Taiwan Strait on their journey – an act that Beijing has always seen as a provocation.
Meanwhile, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) met in Taipei. It was the first time that the group, considered China-critical, met in Taiwan, as David Demes, who spoke to some of the 49 MPs on site, explains. At the meeting, the IPAC accepted the Taiwanese parliament as a new member, a real milestone, according to Demes. The accession brought Taiwan under the “democratic umbrella,” said Boris Mijatovic, MP for the Green Party in the German Parliament. China reportedly pressured delegates from developing countries to abstain from the meeting. However, according to IPAC co-founder Reinhard Buetikofer, this was unsuccessful, and no one canceled their trip.
Germany’s Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, is in the Indo-Pacific. He landed in Hawaii on Tuesday and will then continue on to South Korea and the Philippines. The aim of the trip is for Germany to demonstrate its presence in the strategically important region-also militarily.
And so Pistorius’ first stop may fit perfectly with the image of a defense minister: He is attending the Rimpac2024 military exercise. The snazzy pictures of German soldiers alongside US Marines should not obscure Germany’s true role in the region. The focus is more on long-term and sustainable cooperation with regional partners and less on military presence. After all, Germany is more proficient in business, trade, research and civil society.
Germany’s involvement in the Indo-Pacific is shaped by its increasingly complicated relationship with China. The People’s Republic is building up its military and pursuing its goals with increasing determination – and not just against Taiwan. As a result, tensions in this economically vital region are on the rise.
Countries like Australia, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines are also at odds with China. So it is a good thing that Pistorius is not leaving it at the Rimpac visit, but will also travel to South Korea and the Philippines. The German government needs to make a sustained commitment to these countries – and pursue the “de-risking” approach with tangible agreements and arrangements. The coming days will show whether Pistorius can pull this off.
However, Pistorius first landed in the US state of Hawaii on Tuesday. This is where the world’s largest military exercise is currently underway at the Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac for short): Rimpac2024. Since 1971, military forces from Pacific Rim countries and other states with an interest in the Indo-Pacific have met every two years under US leadership. The main purpose of the exercise is to increase interoperability between the various units. This year, over 25,000 soldiers from around 28 countries are participating.
For the first time, the German Armed Forces send two combat ships to the massive exercise: the frigate “Baden-Wurttemberg” and the task force supply ship “Frankfurt am Main.” They are joined by three Eurofighters and two A400Ms for aerial refueling. It doesn’t take a discussion about the state of the German Armed Forces to realize that it is a mere symbolic project. In the event of an armed conflict in the Indo-Pacific, other Rimpac participants such as Australia, Japan, South Korea and, above all, the USA would be the deciding forces.
Symbolically significant is also whether the two German ships will pass through the Taiwan Strait on their following voyage through the South China Sea. In December 2021, the frigate “Bayern” was on a similar mission. The warship did not pass through the Taiwan Strait at that time.
This time, China’s government has again publicly warned against such a move. Beijing sees its sovereignty being threatened in the name of freedom of navigation. The government considers Taiwan to be an integral part of the People’s Republic and regards the passage of the USA, Great Britain and France as a provocation.
On the other hand, Taiwan’s former Foreign Minister Joseph Wu would welcome the passage. “If the German government wants to carry out more operations for freedom of navigation, that is very welcome,” Wu told the German magazine Der Spiegel in December. “It shows that they are willing not only to talk about it, but also to take concrete measures to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.” A few weeks ago, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock emphasized that the “right of peaceful passage” would also apply to the Taiwan Strait.
From a purely legal point of view, there is not even any question. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 (UNCLOS) – an agreement that was also signed by China – guarantees freedom of navigation. So, a mere “presence voyage” through the supposed “Chinese backyard” would merely be an insistence on applicable maritime law.
It is unlikely that China’s party and state leader, Xi Jinping, will be impressed by this. Nevertheless, China expert Angela Stanzel supported such a passage in an interview with Table.Briefings. “If we are going to show our presence in the Indo-Pacific and go to such great lengths, then it would be appropriate to approach it with a little self-confidence and make the journey through the Taiwan Strait,” the expert from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) says.
Incidentally, two Chinese warships passed through the 19-kilometer-wide Fehmarn Belt in the Baltic Sea a few days ago, largely uncriticised. The destroyer “Jiaozuo” and the naval supply ship “Honghu” passed through the narrow waterway heading east. Their destination: the Navy Day celebrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The Chinese newspaper Global Times commented: “The sailing of the Chinese warships conforms to the international law and practices.”
MPs from 24 countries and the European Parliament met in Taipei on Tuesday to discuss strategies for dealings with the People’s Republic of China. For the first time, the annual summit of the so-called “Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China” (IPAC) took place in Taiwan. With 49 MPs, it is the largest international delegation ever to visit the diplomatically isolated island republic.
The summit ended with a bang: At an international press conference, IPAC Executive Director Luke de Pulford announced that in addition to the parliaments of Colombia, Iraq, Malawi, the Solomon Islands, Gambia, and Uruguay, yet another parliament was joining the China-critical alliance: Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan.
The announcement came as a surprise to many observers in the room, as Taiwan’s membership had long remained uncertain due to a lack of involvement of the Taiwanese opposition. Although the comparatively China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) had not officially barred its members from participating, a high-ranking faction member made it clear that the party’s values were incompatible with those of the alliance.
“I heard that a member of the KMT originally wanted to register. Perhaps his party colleagues advised him not to participate in the end,” Chen Gau-Tzu from the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) told Table.Briefings. Chen’s participation alongside DPP MP Fan Yun made Taiwan’s official admission to the organization possible today. IPAC requires representatives of different parliamentary groups to co-chair their respective sections.
The TPP actually pursues a policy of détente towards the People’s Republic. Nevertheless, the new co-chair, Chen Gau-Tzu, is not concerned that her participation in IPAC could affect her party’s relations with Beijing. “I have the full support of my parliamentary group,” Chen said Tuesday.
Boris Mijatovic, member of the German Parliament for the Green Party and co-chair of the German IPAC section, welcomed Taiwan’s admission to the alliance in an interview with Table.Briefings. By joining, Taiwan has found its way under the “democratic umbrella,” said Mijatovic. “We share democratic values, the rule of law and human rights, including the civil liberties of freedom of expression, freedom of the press and artistic freedom.”
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, who personally welcomed the summit participants on Tuesday, also spoke of a democratic umbrella. “China’s threat to any country is a threat to the whole world,” said Lai. Taiwan would do its utmost to work with its democratic partners to set up a democratic umbrella to ward off the threat of spreading authoritarianism.
Alongside Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim also addressed the delegates. Both warned against China’s attempts to reinterpret UN Resolution 2758 and use it to restrict Taiwan’s international participation further. Resolution No. 2758 excluded Chiang Kai-shek’s representatives from the United Nations in 1971 and handed over China’s seat in the UN to the People’s Republic of China.
In recent years, Beijing has increasingly treated the resolution as equivalent to its own “one-China principle” in an attempt to underpin its claims to Taiwan, despite the resolution text not mentioning Taiwan’s status. China was trying to “construct a legal basis for China’s military aggression against Taiwan,” Lai said.
In response, the IPAC delegates launched the “2758 Initiative” on Tuesday. According to a press release, the initiative aims to pass resolutions in their respective national parliaments “to reject Beijing’s distortion of international law regarding Taiwan’s status.”
In the run-up to the summit, reports surfaced that Beijing had attempted to prevent parliamentarians from traveling to Taiwan. At Tuesday’s press conference, Slovakian MEP Miriam Lexmann (EPP) explained that Chinese diplomats had requested a meeting with her party leader in Slovakia. She said it was “absolutely unacceptable” that representatives of the People’s Republic contacted IPAC members to restrict their freedom to travel and prevent them from carrying out their work. The diplomats’ behavior reminded her of her childhood under communist rule in Czechoslovakia, said Lexmann.
IPAC Executive Director Luke de Pulford called the Chinese campaign “gross foreign interference.” He told the Associated Press that it was “absolutely outrageous” that Beijing believed it could interfere in the travel plans of foreign MPs. Meanwhile, former MEP and IPAC co-founder Reinhard Buetikofer pointed out that not a single delegate had abstained from the summit due to Chinese pressure. “They failed miserably,” the 71-year-old said.
Mijatovic told Table.Briefings that he was not aware of any attempts to influence members of the German delegation. Nevertheless, he stressed that the danger should not be underestimated. He said that members from South America, in particular, were being put under pressure with economic incentives. “These countries are dependent,” says Mijatovic. In exchange, China would build “a sports hall or a Confucius Institute, or a city partnership or a telecommunications network. Keyword: Huawei. And then they say, if you want this to continue, please don’t do that.”
Mijatovic plans to increase the number of IPAC members in the German parliament. “My co-chair Michael Brandt and I have launched an initiative to involve even more people and expand the work.” His aim is not to work against the People’s Republic of China – but to get the People’s Republic to jointly uphold international law, especially in view of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
Mijatovic’s party colleague Bütikofer also stressed that the alliance is not an anti-Chinese organization, as the Global Times has repeatedly claimed. Nevertheless, the EU veteran politician said the IPAC will fight back if China intends to “overthrow our democratic order,” the veteran EU politician said.
Sinolytics is a research-based business consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and specific business activities in the People’s Republic.
The USA will postpone the introduction of high punitive tariffs against various Chinese imports by at least two weeks, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced on Tuesday. These include electric cars and their batteries, computer chips, and medical products. The tariffs originally should have come into force on Thursday (August 1). According to the USTR, however, it still has around 1,100 comments that need to be processed. These apparently include complaints from affected industries.
In May, Washington announced it would drastically increase tariffs on certain Chinese products from August. Electric cars will be subject to 100 percent, four times as much as before. The tariff on semiconductors is to double to 50 percent. Tariffs on solar modules, medical masks, and syringes are also set to rise sharply to up to 50 percent.
According to the White House, the new measures currently affect 18 billion US dollars worth of imported Chinese goods, including steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, critical minerals, solar cells and cranes. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the tariffs would increase the cost of each crane by 4.5 million US dollars, “causing a significant strain on the port’s limited resources.” It is unclear whether the reviews will result in any changes to the tariffs. ck/rtr
When pedestrians step onto the rainbow bridge in the port city of Qingdao, they are suddenly surrounded by magnificent light – a photographer’s delight. It is not entirely clear what exactly the blaze of color leading across the water stands for – but one thing is relatively certain: It is not meant as a public acknowledgement of the LBTQIA+ community.
