German fighter jets off to Australia for joint drills

BERLIN • Thirteen German military aircraft were on their way to joint exercises in Australia yesterday, the air force's largest peacetime deployment, underlining Berlin's increased focus on the Indo-Pacific amid rising tensions with China in the region.

Last year, a German warship sailed into the South China Sea for the first time in almost 20 years, a move that saw Berlin joining other Western nations in expanding their military presence in the region amid growing alarm over Beijing's territorial ambitions.

Tensions have also risen over Taiwan since China - which claims Taiwan as its own territory - kicked off military drills around the democratically ruled island after United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei earlier this month.

On Monday, six Eurofighter jets took off from a base in southern Germany and three A330 tankers from Cologne in the west for the flight to Australia, where they will join 16 other nations in the biennial Pitch Black exercise. Four other German A400M transporters that left earlier will also join the exercise.

During the deployment, which includes detours to Japan and South Korea, the pilots will conduct almost 200 mid-air manoeuvres to refuel the fighter jets, German air force chief Ingo Gerhartz told reporters ahead of the mission.

It will also involve both air-to-air and air-to-surface combat exercises, including training in how to protect ships from the air.

Asked whether the war planes will pass the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, two flash points of tensions with China in the region, General Gerhartz said the aircraft would use civilian air traffic routes and that no passage of the Taiwan Strait was planned.

"The South China Sea, Taiwan - these are obviously the sticking points in the region," he told reporters. "We will fly at an altitude of more than 10km and barely touch the South China Sea, and we will move on international routes."

Gen Gerhartz said the deployment was aiming to send a signal to Germany's partners, rather than to China. "I don't think we are sending any threatening message towards China by flying to an exercise in Australia," he said.

It is also for the German air force to "test its inter-operability with allies inside and outside Nato in the Indo-Pacific", the German army said.

Australia's Ambassador to Germany, Mr Philip Green, also stressed that there was no reason why Beijing should see a regular exercise as destabilising to the region.

"We are seeking a region which will be stable, peaceful and prosperous, strategic equilibrium where each country can take their own sovereign choices," he said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS