Sharjah 24 – AFP: Two German naval vessels were heading into the Taiwan Strait on Friday, the country's defence minister said in Berlin, in a voyage expected to spark a protest from Beijing.
Asked whether the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the supply ship Frankfurt am Main were headed into or through the Strait, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said "I can confirm that".
"And the message is a very simple one, which we have always supported... international waters are international waters," Pistorius told journalists.
US and other military ships have often sailed through the sensitive waterway but it was the first time in over two decades that the German navy has done so, German media reports said.
Taiwan's defence ministry in a brief statement said that "a German frigate and a supply ship sailed through the Taiwan Strait from north to south since this morning".
"The military has monitored the situation and no anomaly was detected in our surroundings."
Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province and claims jurisdiction over the body of water that separates the island from the Chinese mainland.
Germany and many other countries argue such voyages are usual, citing freedom of navigation in international waters.
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