Countering Western Advances in the Middle East: Did a Chinese Laser Target a German Surveillance Plane Near Yemen?

The German Foreign Office has alleged that a German surveillance plane was targeted by a laser weapon from a Chinese warship as it flew over the Red Sea, in charges flatly denied by Chinese officials. The aircraft in question was thought to be a Beechcraft King Air 350 operated by contractor personnel and based in Djibouti, which was flying in the region as part of broader Western and Israeli efforts to counter the Yemeni Ansurullah Coalition. Berlin accused the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy of “endangering German personnel and disrupting the operation,” and of having “put personnel at risk and compromised the aircraft’s mission.” The incident occurred at a time when China has shown growing signs of seeking to contain Western and allied advances in the region, which have since late 2024 increasingly shifted the balance of power in the Middle East against regional actors such as Iran and the Ansurullah Coalition that remain outside the Western sphere of influence.

The presence of German forces in the Red Sea reflects a broader trend towards the expansion of the country’s military presences in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Pacific, as the country has increasingly assertively supported collective Western Bloc objectives in these regions. Multiple sources have also reported the operations of German aerial tankers in the Middle East providing aerial refuelling support to facilitate Israeli attacks on Iranian targets from June 13, during which German Chancellor Friedrich Merz praised the Israeli offensive as doing the “dirty work” on the Berlin and its allies’ behalf. Since Iranian-Israeli hostilities ended in a ceasefire on June 24, a number of unconfirmed reports have indicated that China has resupplied Iranian air defences in preparation for expected future Western-Israeli attacks.