TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Any attempt at a military solution for issues between Taiwan and China will produce only losers, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald published Monday (Nov. 2).

The minister, previously seen as a potential heir to Chancellor Angela Merkel, said the German Navy will cooperate with Australia and patrol the Indian Ocean. She also hinted that Chinese company Huawei Technologies will be kept away from her country’s 5G systems.

Turning to Taiwan, Kramp-Karrenbauer cautioned against violence. In recent months, China has sent warplanes to encroach on Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on an almost daily basis.

“Anything outside a peaceful settlement of issues across the Taiwan Strait would be seen as a major failure of statecraft,” she said, adding that “a purely military logic in this confrontation would produce only losers.”

The defense minister emphasized that Germany will stand united with those in the Indo-Pacific who share the same values, referring to Australia, against “those who challenge us.”

Germany’s stance on China is the result of Beijing’s actions and will not be dictated by whoever occupies the White House, according to Kramp-Karrenbauer. There have always been differences across the Atlantic, but “what’s key is that we get the big stuff right. China is big stuff,” she concluded.