Overview

• In a keynote at an Indonesian think tank on August 20, Johann Wadephul said China’s growing military assertiveness in the South China Sea undermines the rules-based order and threatens regional security.
• He warned that any escalation, including in the Taiwan Strait, would carry serious consequences for global security and prosperity and would directly affect European interests.
• China’s Foreign Ministry rejected the remarks as incitement, called the situation in regional waters generally stable, and restated that Taiwan is an internal matter.
• He argued that China sustains Russia’s war effort through decisive economic support and unequal trade practices, even as Berlin remains willing to engage economically despite what he called systemic rivalry.
• During meetings in Jakarta, he promoted recruiting Indonesian healthcare workers, observed German-language nursing training, and an intent declaration was signed to establish four additional training institutions as Indonesia reported 329 nurses have already moved to Germany.