Major European countries are sending warships to the Indo-Pacific region amid mounting suspicion toward China over its political crackdown in Hong Kong and handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Germany, meanwhile, will send a frigate to Asia from August, senior government officials in Berlin said Tuesday. The ship will not pass within 12 nautical miles of contested islands in the sea, the officials in the foreign and defense ministries added. But the German announcement may have unintentionally exposed Berlin’s inexperience in the South China Sea.  Dr Collin Koh, a Research Fellow at the RSIS in Singapore, noted in a tweet that it would have been better for the Germans not to have claimed they will stay out of the 12 nautical mile range.