HONOLULU — Germany’s defense minister was in Honolulu this week to meet with American military leaders, as well as with German sailors and airmen who participated in the biennial Exercise Rim of the Pacific in Hawaii.
Boris Pistorius was joined by six members of the German parliament as they met with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. Samuel Paparo and spent Tuesday night aboard the German navy frigate FGS Baden- Wurttemberg. Wednesday morning, he held a news conference on the ship that was attended by members of German and Hawaii media.
“It is important for us, it’s important that we participate here and have a stable Indo-Pacific,” Pistorius told reporters. “The Indo-Pacific as a region, just like many other regions in the world, needs to protect the rules-based international order. … Germany, like many other trading nations, is very much dependent on free and secure trade routes and we depend on international trade relations.”
This year is the first time the German navy and air force have taken part in RIMPAC. Their participation comes as Germany has been rolling out a new Pacific strategy as tensions along key trade routes in the region and China’s rising military might and influence have drawn the attention of leaders across Europe.
Germany also boasts Europe’s largest economy and has deep trade relationships across Asia.
The Baden-Wurttemberg is joined by the FGS Frankfurt Am Main, one of the German navy’s three combat support ships. The vessels, at nearly 571 feet long, are its largest ships and carry fuel, supplies, munitions and a small onboard hospital.
The pair are on a deployment that so far has taken them from Germany, across the Atlantic and through the Panama Canal to San Diego, and now to Hawaii. They will soon depart, sailing west to Japan and also through the South China Sea.
From there, they will voyage across the Indian Ocean and into the Red Sea to support operations to protect international merchant ships from Yemen-based Houthi militants. They will then sail through the Suez Canal and return home.
“We need to show that many countries in this world say this rules-based international order is the foundation, the prerequisite for security and prosperity of many people across the world,” Pistorius said. “And so this is why we bear this responsibility together. And we need to show that we really support that.”
Pistorius took on the role of defense minister in January 2023 and has overseen an effort to overhaul the German military. At a time when his Social Democrat party is facing scrutiny, Pistorius is currently Germany’s most popular politician and enjoys the highest approval rating of anyone in his country’s government.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted many European countries to increase defense spending and spurred formerly neutral Sweden and Finland to seek membership in NATO. Pistorius has said the German military must be “war ready.” But while European military leaders have their eyes on Russia, they are also paying closer attention to the Pacific.
China has become embroiled in a series of disputes with neighboring countries over maritime navigation and territorial rights. Tensions have run particularly high in the South China Sea, which serves as a critical trade route that more than one-third of all trade moves through. China has claimed the entire waterway over the objections of neighboring countries that also use its resources and shipping routes.
A 2016 international court ruling in favor of the Philippines found that China’s claims have “no legal basis.” Beijing in turn has called the ruling “illegal” and has built military bases on disputed islands and atolls and attacked fishermen and other maritime workers from neighboring countries. In June members of the Chinese coast guard rammed and boarded Philippine navy armed with machetes, axes and clubs. A Philippine navy sailor lost a finger in the incident, which prompted a series of diplomatic moves to cool tensions.
In 2023, Germany released its first China strategy, which called Beijing a “systemic rival” and advocated that Germany work to reduce its economic dependence on the Asian giant. The document stated that “China has changed. As a result of this and China’s political decisions, we need to change our approach to China.”
However, Pistorius said that while China looms large, Germany isn’t trying to pick a fight and is interested in seeing peace in the region.
“This is not a trip directed against any state,” he said. “Yes, China is becoming and acting more dominantly and (that) creates tension and worries, fears. And all actors in the region need to be aware of their responsibility for the stability of the Indo-Pacific together, we need to avoid any kind of escalation.
“We will very actively reach out to partners in the region, that’s crucial. But at the same time, it’s also important to mention that there are many challenges in the region, and the challenges in this region cannot be solved without China. So we will keep up cooperation with China wherever it’s appropriate.”
European leaders also are more closely watching Russia’s involvement in the Pacific. The Russian military has been conducting joint patrols with China, and North Korea recently signed a new agreement with Russia that would bolster their military ties.
When the German ships reach Japan, they will participate in international operations to enforce sanctions on North Korea.
“I think that is a small but an important contribution that Germany is making, because that is a topic of concern to all of us,” Pistorius said. “North Korea is getting more attention now because it is, for example, undermining sanctions imposed on Russia, thereby involving itself in the Ukraine conflict as well … so the security of Europe, as you can see, is very closely linked to the security here in this region.”
In January, NATO’s director of policy planning, Benedetta Berti, attended a military affairs conference in Waikiki hosted by Honolulu think tank Pacific Forum. She told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser, “We understand, I think, that we are in a more global and interconnected world, and therefore in order to fulfill our mission of the defense and security of the Euro-Atlantic, we need to understand security trends in other regions can affect European security.”
Italy and the Netherlands also sent warships to RIMPAC for the first time this year. The growing involvement of European countries and NATO has been welcomed by senior American officials, but it has also drawn suspicion. This year activists held a series of coordinated protests in Hawaii, San Diego and Washington, D.C., to protest RIMPAC and the NATO summit, accusing the U.S. and its Western allies of antagonizing China and stoking tensions.
China also has criticized the growing military involvement of European countries in the Pacific, some of whom have histories of colonialism in the region. Germany itself once maintained imperial holdings in China and imposed colonial rule over the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, the Marshall Islands, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Nauru and others until losing them to other imperial powers during World War I.
But Pistorius said Germany’s return to the Pacific is about partnerships, not dominance.
“The reality today is absolutely different than not comparable to the reality in 1900 or 1930 or 1950 even,” he said. “We are all partners on a high level, we train together, we exercise together, we work together as liberal and free countries in the world who have committed themselves to the international rules-based order, and that is what we are doing and showing here.
“This is not about colonialism or anything else. It is just cooperating and exercising and partnership like working together.”
In Hawaii, German and American military leaders have discussed the establishment of a permanent military liaison office at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command at Camp Smith. When asked about the effort, Pistorius said, “We finished our application, and we assume that this will be approved shortly.”
After wrapping up his visit Wednesday, Pistorius and the rest of the German delegation flew to South Korea to meet with officials and from there will continue to the Philippines.
