By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Foreign Office said Tuesday it has summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest after a Chinese warship used a laser against a German aircraft in the Red Sea.
The surveillance aircraft was part of the EU mission Aspides, which is intended to better defend civilian ships against attacks by Houthi rebels based in Yemen. It was lasered earlier this month “without any reason or prior contact” by a Chinese warship that had been encountered several times in the area, the German Defense Ministry said.
“By using the laser, the warship accepted the risk of endangering people and material,” a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.
The ministry said that as a precaution, the aircraft’s mission was aborted. It landed safely at the base in Djibouti and the crew is in good health, it said. The aircraft, operated by a civilian commercial service provider but with German army personnel involved, has since resumed its operations with the EU mission in the Red Sea, the ministry said.
The German Foreign Office said in a post on X that “endangering German personnel and disrupting the operation is entirely unacceptable.”
China’s spokespeople did not comment immediately Tuesday.
The EU mission only defends civilian vessels and does not take part in any military strikes. The southern part of the Red Sea is deemed a high-risk zone.
On Tuesday, Yemen’s Houthi rebels continued an hourslong attack targeting a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea, authorities said, after the group claimed to have sunk another vessel in an assault that threatens to renew combat across the vital waterway.