Germany sends troops to Australia in a first as Berlin shifts focus to Indo-Pacific
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Germany will, for the first time, send troops to Australia as part of joint drills with some 30,000 service members from 12 other nations, underlining Berlin’s increased focus on the Indo-Pacific amid rising tensions with China in the region.
In recent years, Germany has had a greater military presence in the Indo-Pacific, even as this means walking a tightrope between its security and economic interests.”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 on Monday, hours before the first German troops were to leave for Australia.China is Berlin’s most important trading partner, and 40% 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.In 2021, a German warship sailed into the South China Sea for the first time in almost 20 years. Last year, Berlin sent 13 military aircraft to joint exercises in Australia, the air force’s largest peacetime deployment.
