 In late 1912 , Spee was given command of the East Asia Squadron , replacing KAdm Günther von Krosigk on 4 December . Spee raised his flag on the armored cruiser Scharnhorst , and departed on a tour of the southwest Pacific along with Scharnhorst 's sister ship Gneisenau , during which Spee made visits to several ports , including Singapore and Batavia . Spee was promoted to Vizeadmiral the following year . Over the following year and a half , Spee met with the leaders of several East Asian countries . From 1 April to 7 May 1913 , Scharnhorst took Spee to Japan to meet the Taishō Emperor . Later in the year , Spee met with Chulalongkorn , the King of Siam . In May 1914 , Spee took Scharnhorst and the torpedo boat S90 on a visit to Port Arthur and then to Tianjin ; Spee continued on to Beijing , where he met with Yuan Shikai , the first President of the Republic of China . He came back aboard Scharnhorst on 11 May and the ship returned to Tsingtao . 
