Germany announced Monday it is sending sending elite troops to Australia as part of joint drills with some 30,000 service members from 12 other nations.
The first-time deployment underlines Berlin’s increased focus on the Indo-Pacific as tensions with China build across the region.
“It is a region of extremely high importance for us in Germany as well as for the European Union due to the economic interdependencies”, Army Chief Alfons Mais told Reuters in an interview published as the first German troops were readying to leave for Australia.
The ground forces follow past deployments by the German Navy and Luftwaffe in the region as well as those planned for the future.
China is Berlin’s most important trading partner, and 40 percent of Europe’s foreign trade flows through the South China Sea, a waterway that is a focal point for territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific.
Mais said up to 240 specialist German soldiers, among them 170 paratroopers and 40 marines, will take part in the Talisman Sabre exercise from July 22 to August 4, the largest drills between Australia and the U.S. alongside other allies, held bi-annually.
Last year, Berlin sent 13 military aircraft to joint exercises in Australia, the air force’s largest peacetime deployment, as Breitbart News reported.
In 2021, a German warship sailed into the South China Sea for the first time in almost 20 years.
The Germans will train in jungle warfare and landing operations alongside soldiers from countries such as Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, France and Britain.
“We aim to demonstrate that we are reliable and capable partners that contribute to stabilizing the rules-based order in the region”, Mais said.
File/ A German Eurofighter with special “Rapid Pacific 2022” livery prepares for takeoff at Neuburg Air Base. As part of the “Rapid Pacific 2022” project, which involved some 250 Air Force servicemen and women, as well as four transport aircraft to refuel the fighters in the air, six Eurofighters headed for Singapore and then Australia for two multinational exercises (air combat and naval warfare) with the Australian armed forces. (Daniel Karmann/picture alliance via Getty)
When asked what message the first deployment of German troops to Australia was meant to send to China, he underscored Berlin did not aim to antagonize anybody.
“It generally makes sense to get to know the perspective others have upon the world”, said the lieutenant general, adding the current security challenges were much less clear-cut than before 1990.
“The Cold War was easy, it was a bi-polar world. Today, we can no longer focus on Europe only… we have to position ourselves much more broadly,” the army chief maintained in the Reuters interview.