F125 Baden-Württemberg, this class has the highest displacement of any class of frigate worldwide

German defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said a German naval presence in the Indo-Pacific will help safeguard the rules-based world order

A German warship will patrol the Indian Ocean as part of the country’s plans to manage China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region, German defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has said.

She said the frigate is expected to be deployed next year and a German naval presence in the Indo-Pacific will help safeguard the rules-based world order. “We believe that Germany needs to mark its position in the region,” she said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald.

“We hope to be able to deploy next year,” she said. “We will be spending more on defence in 2021 than in 2020 despite the fact that [the Covid-19 pandemic] has hit our budgets. Now the key is to translate this into real muscle.”