Germany has asserted its right to sail on international waters after it entered the Taiwan Strait en route to the Philippines in defiance of China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan and practically the entire South China Sea.

Beijing on Saturday accused Berlin of heightening security risks in the Taiwan Strait, a day after two German military vessels sailed through the sensitive waters.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed on Friday that the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the supply vessel Frankfurt am Main had sailed through the strait.

“International waters are international waters,” said Pistorius on Friday at a press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart Laurynas Kasciunas.

“It’s the shortest route and, given the weather conditions, the safest, so we’re going through,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday.

Asked about the vessels, “there is not much to say... it’s an international waterway,” he added.

The Baden-Württemberg and the Frankfurt am Main, which German defense officials said were traveling south from South Korea to the Philippines, were not the first western naval vessels to pass through the Taiwan Strait.

US warships sail through the strait every two months, and Canada and the United Kingdom have also made occasional transits.

Taiwan welcomes move

Sailing through the strait angers Beijing, but it is officially an international waterway and major trade route through which around half of global container ships pass.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said earlier this week that it “welcomes and affirms Germany, along with the US, Canada and the Netherlands, for taking action to demonstrate the legal status of the Taiwan Strait as international waters, while defending the freedom of navigation and maintaining regional peace at the same time.”

However, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson condemned what she called an excuse to infringe on China’s sovereignty.

“We firmly oppose provocations and endangering of China’s sovereignty and security under the banner of ‘freedom of navigation,’” Mao Ning told a press conference in Beijing.

While Chinese military spokesperson Li Xi said in a statement, “The German side’s behavior increases security risks and sends incorrect signals.”

US military ships and those of other countries often sail through the sensitive waterway. But the Baden-Wuerttemberg’s voyage was the first time in more than two decades that Berlin’s navy had done so, according to German media reports.

China’s Li said Saturday the People’s Liberation Army had sent sea and air forces to “monitor and warn off” the German vessels.

Beijing’s troops in the area would “resolutely counter all threats and provocations,” Li added.

Sea freedom

Though Taiwan has only a dozen diplomatic allies, it maintains strong partnerships with various Western democracies such as the United States, which is its biggest weapons supplier.

Beijing has in recent years engaged in an escalating campaign of intimidation against Taiwan, including large-scale military exercises around the island.

The Chinese government warned this year that “Taiwan independence forces will be left with their heads broken and blood flowing.”

Chinese state media reported in June that Beijing could impose the death penalty for “particularly serious” cases of what it views as separatism from Taiwan.