Two German ships arrived in Manila port, which marked the first time in over 20 years, to emphasize Germany’s “global commitment” to a rules-based international order and “free and secure shipping routes,” German Ambassador to Manila Andreas Pfaffernoschke said on Monday, Sept. 16.
German Ambassador to the Philippines Andreas Pfaffernoschke welcomes the arrival of German Navy’s frigate Baden-Württemberg for a port call in Manila on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Screengrab from Amb. Pfaffernoschke’s X post)
German Navy’s frigate Baden-Württemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main arrived on Monday and will stay until Thursday, Sept. 19, as part of the Indo-Pacific Deployment (IPD) 2024.
“This visit is not only a testament to the enhanced defense cooperation between Germany and the Philippines, but also underscores how politically significant the Indo-Pacific region has become for Germany,” the envoy said on X (formerly Twitter).
He stressed that the IPD “is the German Navy's most important endeavor of defense diplomacy in 2024” because “it serves it in particular through close and confidence-building cooperation with strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific region, like the Philippines.”
“While emphasizing Germany's global commitment for an international rules-based order, it also represents our pledge to ensuring free and secure shipping routes and enhanced maritime security cooperation,” Pfaffernoschke said in a statement posted on X.
“This pledge was outlined in Germany's Indo-Pacific Strategy, released in 2020, which stresses the importance of maintaining free and open sea lanes in the region,” he added.
This was also reaffirmed in the 2023 German National Security Strategy.
Both ships, according to the ambassador, left Germany in May 2024.