Germany’s Merz: Alleged Chinese laser targeting of German aircraft ‘completely unacceptable’

BERLIN – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz denounced a Chinese warship's alleged use of a laser against a German military surveillance aircraft in the Red Sea as "completely unacceptable" on Wednesday afternoon, reiterating the anger from Berlin over the incident.

Hours earlier, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning denied the German allegations in remarks to reporters: "What Germany has said is fully inconsistent with the facts.”

Merz noted that the Chinese ambassador had been summoned over the incident but that he had not yet been briefed on how China sought to explain the alleged encounter.

Such an "attack" on a German aircraft requires clarification, Merz said at a joint afternoon press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Berlin.

The incident allegedly occurred earlier this month, when a German military aircraft patrolling off the coast of Yemen as part of the EU's Aspides mission was targeted by a laser from a Chinese warship in the Red Sea.

A spokesperson for the German ministry said the Chinese vessel acted without warning or reason, adding that the aircraft aborted its flight mission and diverted to a base in Djibouti.

The Aspides mission is an EU maritime surveillance operation aimed at protecting the Red Sea shipping lanes from Houthi attacks  that have disrupted a vital trade route for Europe.

“Putting German personnel at risk and disrupting the operation is completely unacceptable,” the German foreign ministry said in a post on X on Tuesday.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he was "more than irritated" over the incident in an interview published Wednesday by Germany's RND news outlet.

"Such interference with our aircraft, as well as any other unprovoked endangerment of our units, is unacceptable," he said.

Berlin's public accusations came just after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Berlin as part of a broader European tour.

Chris Kremidas-Courtney, a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre and an expert on hybrid threats, told Euractiv that the use of lasers is a common tactic employed by Beijing.

In 2022, “Chinese vessels used lasers to blind an Australian aircraft off the northern cost of Australia,” they said.

According to Spiegel, a German naval frigate had previously been targeted by Chinese lasers while sailing through the Taiwan Strait in the autumn. The attack, which was intended to "blind" the vessel, was reported to Berlin but not publicly addressed by the German government at the time.

Kremidas-Courtney said that pointing a laser at an aircraft disrupts the engine's reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities, and is commonly used as a “harassment technique”. 

“The question is, how will we respond to this escalation?” Kremidas-Courtney asked.

This story was updated to include German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's remarks on the alleged incident.

(bts, de)