In a welcome development that should earn appreciation from both President Trump and Joe Biden, Germany has announced that it will deploy a warship on an Indian Ocean patrol alongside the Australian navy.

Provoking alarm in Beijing, German Defense Secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told the Sydney Morning Herald that China’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy had provoked a “rethink across Europe” of how to approach Beijing. The naval deployment evinces that Germany “needs to mark its position in the region.” Kramp-Karrenbauer concluded that “What will be crucial, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, is whether the West can be more unified in its dealings with Beijing.”