German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius’ (Social Democrats, SPD) tour of the Pacific can only be described as a world war mission. Pistorius used his numerous appearances, speeches and interviews in Hawaii, South Korea and the Philippines to underline Germany’s new great power aspirations. While former SPD Minister of Defence Peter Struck declared in 2004 that Germany’s security would “also be defended in the Hindu Kush,” 20 years later this apparently applies to the entire Indo-Pacific.
Pistorius made no secret of the economic and geostrategic interests pursued by German imperialism. “It is also of great importance for us and Europe as a whole that the region in the Indo-Pacific is stable. And that the rules-based international order also applies in the Indo-Pacific – and is observed and protected,” he explained. Germany, “Like other trading nations, is dependent on free and safe sea routes. Germany is dependent on the fact that international trade relations can be maintained and secured.”
Significantly, Pistorius made his statements on the German warship “Baden-Württemberg.” The frigate took part in the US-led exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) together with the supply ship “Frankfurt am Main,” as well as parts of the Luftwaffe (three Eurofighter fighter jets and two A-400 M transport aircraft). With more than 25,000 soldiers from 29 nations and 40 ships, 3 submarines, 14 national land forces, over 150 aircraft and helicopters, it represents the world’s largest international naval exercise.
The exercise was a direct part of the US war preparations against China and was accordingly condemned by Beijing. “The portrayal of China as a hypothetical adversary and the conduct of exercises with the goal of sinking the decommissioned amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa are intended as a clear strategic deterrent against China,” said a commentary in the China Daily, published by the Communist Party of China.
During the manoeuvre, Pistorius himself provocatively declared that the intention is to “remain in dialogue with China, but still position ourselves clearly where we stand.” Where Berlin is positioning itself with the exercise and Pistorius’ journey is clear: on the side of the war offensive against China. Despite its still close economic ties to China, it has fully joined the US-led military march.
According to the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces), “the participating armed forces trained a wide range of capabilities – from disaster relief to maritime security operations, from maritime control to complex warfare measures.” The training plan included, among other things, “amphibious operations, firing exercises, missile, anti-submarine and air defense exercises.”
The growing presence of the Bundeswehr in the Indo-Pacific underlines how aggressively German imperialism is behaving again after defeat in two world wars and horrific crimes in the 20th century. Berlin is not only playing a leading role in the NATO offensive against Russia and in supporting Israel’s genocidal war in the Middle East, but also in the US preparations for war against China.
The Defence Minister’s entire trip was aimed at pushing the confrontation with China to the extreme. Pistorius provocatively declared in South Korea that a German warship could soon pass through the Strait of Taiwan, claimed by China. In the course of the Indo-Pacific Deployment 2024, the German Navy will also participate in the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea. Pistorius said that this is an important contribution to show that, “This concerns us all. Because North Korea in particular is moving into the spotlight through its support of Russia in the war against Ukraine, in the undermining of sanctions against Russia.”
In a further step, Berlin also joined the United Nations Command, which, led by the US military, monitors compliance with the ceasefire on the border between South and North Korea. In addition, Pistorius and his South Korean counterpart Shin Won-sik agreed to further expand the “already good cooperation” in the defence sector. “We must deter from a position of strength,” stressed Pistorius.
Pistorius and Won-sik backed the Statement of Principles for Indo-Pacific Defense Industrial Base Collaboration. It was unveiled by the US on the sidelines of this year’s Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore and coordinates the military buildup against China. This agreement will “help the security and defence industries of the participating countries to work even more closely together so that we can better share industrial capacities,” boasted Pistorius.
Pistorius also joined forces against China with his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro and Philippine President and dictator’s son Ferdinand Marcos Jr. – it was the first visit of a German defence minister to Manila – and agreed on closer military cooperation. “In concrete terms, this means building long-term relations between the armed forces and learning from each other, as well as possible cooperation in the field of armaments,” according to a report by the Ministry of Defence. “Air defense, coastal protection, procurement of transport aircraft or training cooperations and expert discussions in the course of bilateral activities are conceivable here.”
As with the war offensive against Russia, which stands in continuity with the Wehrmacht’s war of annihilation against the Soviet Union in World War II, German imperialism also draws on its dark traditions when forging a war alliance against China. Almost exactly 124 years ago, on July 27, 1900, Kaiser Wilhelm II gave his infamous anti-Chinese “Hun speech” in Bremerhaven, which was the prelude to a military intervention by the imperialist powers in China.
In bidding farewell to the German East Asian Expeditionary Force sent to brutally quell the Boxer Rebellion, Wilhelm II accused China of having “overturned the law of nations; they have mocked the sacredness of the envoy, the duties of hospitality, in a way that is unheard of in world history.” Then the German emperor issued the infamous threat that the name of the Germans in China, like that of the Huns in Europe, would be “affirmed by you in such a way in China that no Chinese will ever again dare to look cross-eyed at a German.”
During the Second World War, Nazi Germany was allied with Japan, which occupied large parts of China and committed terrible crimes against the civilian population there. Berlin is also reviving this alliance. Directly before the RIMPAC maneuver, the three Eurofighters and the two Luftwaffe transport aircraft held a joint exercise (“Nippon Skies”) with the Japanese air force. It was the first time ever that the German Air Force held a maneuver over Japan.
The renewed aggressive trumpeting of German imperialism will further escalate the situation in the region. The offensive of the imperialist powers under the leadership of Washington aims to subjugate China and reduce it back to the status of a semi-colony. Although this project risks a devastating third world war, German imperialism’s ambition is to be at the forefront when it comes to the control and division of the resource-rich and geostrategically pivotal central region.
Like the war offensive against Russia, German intervention in the Indo-Pacific was prepared and planned well in advance. Already at the 2022 NATO summit in Madrid, NATO adopted a new strategy that explicitly aligned the military alliance with a comprehensive war against the nuclear powers Russia and China. And in September 2020, the Federal Foreign Office published its so-called “Guidelines on the Indo-Pacific,” which declare the region to be “the key to shaping the international order in the 21st century.”
The strategy paper explicitly formulated German imperialism’s aspiration to assert its interests in the Far East, if necessary, by military means. “The Himalayas and the Strait of Malacca may seem far away. But our prosperity and geopolitical influence in the coming decades will depend precisely on how we cooperate with the states of the Indo-Pacific,” it stated. As a globally active trading nation, Germany can “not afford to content itself with a spectator’s role” with regard to military operations.