Germany Summons Chinese Envoy Over Laser Targeting of Warplane in Red Sea

Germany’s foreign ministry said that its personnel was put ‘at risk’ by China as it was taking part in an anti-Houthi rebel military operation.

The Chinese Embassy in Berlin on Dec. 11, 2017. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Germany has summoned the Chinese ambassador after its warplane was targeted by a laser during an EU operation in the Red Sea.

“Putting German personnel at risk and disrupting the operation is completely unacceptable,” Germany’s foreign ministry said on social media platform X on July 8.

“The Chinese military employed a laser targeting a German aircraft in the EU operation.”

The foreign ministry did not specify when this happened.

It added that the Chinese ambassador was summoned to the Federal Foreign Office on Tuesday.

Germany’s foreign ministry said that the aircraft was taking part in an EU military operation in the Red Sea.

Operation Aspides was launched in February as a result of Houthi attacks on maritime shipping and focused on maritime security in the Red Sea, as well as the Indian Ocean and the Gulf.

China’s People’s Liberation Army has an operational base in Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa situated at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, which it established in 2017.

According to a U.S. Congress report released this year on Beijing’s engagement in Djibouti, China’s deal with Djibouti entailed a 10-year, $20 million-per-year contract to lease the site, with facilities that could house a few thousand personnel.

The Department of Defense also reported that China has sought to restrict airspace over its base.

U.S. officials reported several cases in 2018 of lasers pointed from the base at U.S. military aircraft that caused eye injuries to pilots. China denied the allegations.

Amid growing tensions in the Red Sea involving China and Western forces, Israel has escalated attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen.

Israel attacked Houthi targets, including three ports and a power plant, in Yemen early on July 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa, and Salif were all hit, along with the Ras Qantib power plant, according to the IDF. It is the first time Israel has attacked targets in Yemen in almost a month.

The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and targeting shipping in the Red Sea since the start of the 2023 conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in what the terrorist organization claims is in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Also known as Ansar Allah, the Houthis are a Zaidi Shia movement that unseated Yemen’s internationally recognized government from the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. They currently control an area encompassing about 80 percent of the country, which is home to 32 million people.

Guy Birchall contributed to this report.