The port visit is another stop on the frigate's seven-month training and presence cruise in the Indo-Pacific. The frigate, which carries 232 servicemen and women, had departed for the Indo-Pacific from its home port of Wilhelmshaven on 2 August 2021. The voyage so far has taken her through the Horn of Africa, Pakistan, Australia, Guam, Japan, South Korea and Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City. Further port visits on the return to Germany are planned in Sri Lanka and India.

The frigate's Indo-Pacific voyage underscores the security component of the Indo-Pacific Guidelines adopted by the German government in September 2020, through which Germany aims to strengthen its role as a shaping actor and partner in the region. The aim of the guidelines is to intensify relations in and with the region and place them on a broader footing.

Open shipping routes are immensely important to the economies of Germany and Europe. The mission of the „Bayern“ is a tangible contribution to protecting and safeguarding the rule-based order in the Indo-Pacific. On its mission, the frigate also sailed through the South China Sea. Germany regularly underlines the significance of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as a comprehensive, universally applicable legal framework for all activities in the world’s oceans and seas. This applies in particular to the freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters enshrined in the Convention, as well as the right of innocent passage through coastal waters. Together with France and the United Kingdom, Germany presented its legal position to the United Nations with respect to international law on maritime claims in the South China Sea in a joint NoteVerbale in September 2020.

Immediately prior crossing the South China Sea, the frigate was involved in monitoring the UN Security Council’s sanctions against North Korea for about a month.

The Indo-Pacific is increasingly becoming a political and economic center of gravity. The region will have a decisive impact on the shape of the international order in the coming years. Germany's Indo-Pacific Guidelines are therefore not limited to security challenges, but set other priorities such as diversifying economic partnerships and strengthening international law, multilateral cooperation on climate protection, and security policy cooperation in the region. Germany joined the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) on 1 August 2021.

The visit of the frigate „Bayern“ to Ho Chi Minh City in the New Year is further proof of the vitality of the strategic partnership between Germany and Vietnam.

For additional information on the Bavaria Frigate's voyage, please see the following links:

https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/regionaleschwerpunkte/asien/frigate-bayern/2502176

https://www.bundeswehr.de/de/organisation/marine/aktuelles/indo-pacific-deployment-2021

Twitter: @FregatteBayern