German efforts to meet defense obligations as part of NATO are sparking heated discussions within the country about its military because of the nation's Nazi history, according to a top diplomat.
“These debates are necessary in view of Germany’s history,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Wednesday at a forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington. “Instead of only talking about ability or willingness to honor commitments with the alliance, we should also make one thing clear: NATO may be a security alliance but above all it's an alliance of values and it has a political function.”
Maas’ implicit reference to Germany’s role in the Second World War came just a couple hours after Vice President Mike Pence lashed Berlin for failing to honor a 2014 pledge to increase defense spending. Multiple members of the security bloc are “falling short” of their obligations, but Pence stressed Germany is “chief among them” after German lawmakers submitted a new budget proposal that is far lower than the agreed-upon spending targets.
“Germany still refuses to make the necessary investment of 2% of its GDP to our common defense,” Pence said. “After great prodding, it agreed to spend only 1.5% of its GDP on defense by 2024. But the draft budget for 2019 just presented to the German parliament actually falls short of even that commitment, promising only 1.3%. Germany must do more.”
Maas countered, at the same forum, that Germany is playing a prominent role in a variety of NATO operations.
“We are the second-largest troop contributor in Afghanistan,” he said. “We are making substantial contributions to other NATO-led operations too. Alongside the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, Germany is one of the four framework nations of the enhanced forward presence [in eastern Europe]. And our Eurofighters are helping to police the airspace over Estonia.”
Maas also suggested the United States would need German help in confronting unconventional threats from China over the coming decades. "There are security implications, but China is a challenge on almost every topic,” he said. “The world, as we know, it is coming unhinged.”
Pence invoked China to explain why European allies will have to spend more on their own defense, as the United States focuses on the Pacific theater.
“China’s expanding influence will necessarily demand more of America’s attention and resources,” he said. “And as we meet that challenge, our European allies must do more to maintain the strength and deterrence of our transatlantic alliance with their resources.”
