diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.ssh.jsch.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/OpenSshConfigTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.ssh.jsch.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/OpenSshConfigTest.java
index 82109582f..93d85e2e9 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.ssh.jsch.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/OpenSshConfigTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.ssh.jsch.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/OpenSshConfigTest.java
@@ -572,4 +572,21 @@ public void testMultipleMatch() throws Exception {
 		assertArrayEquals(new Object[] { "/foo", "/bar", "/baz" },
 				h.getConfig().getValues("IdentityFile"));
 	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testWhitespace() throws Exception {
+		config("Host foo \tbar   baz\nPort 29418\n");
+		Host h = osc.lookup("foo");
+		assertNotNull(h);
+		assertEquals(29418, h.getPort());
+		h = osc.lookup("bar");
+		assertNotNull(h);
+		assertEquals(29418, h.getPort());
+		h = osc.lookup("baz");
+		assertNotNull(h);
+		assertEquals(29418, h.getPort());
+		h = osc.lookup("\tbar");
+		assertNotNull(h);
+		assertEquals(22, h.getPort());
+	}
 }
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/transport/ssh/OpenSshConfigFile.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/transport/ssh/OpenSshConfigFile.java
index e4753df00..bf93d77f7 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/transport/ssh/OpenSshConfigFile.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/transport/ssh/OpenSshConfigFile.java
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ private List<String> parseList(String argument) {
 		int length = argument.length();
 		while (start < length) {
 			// Skip whitespace
-			if (Character.isSpaceChar(argument.charAt(start))) {
+			if (Character.isWhitespace(argument.charAt(start))) {
 				start++;
 				continue;
 			}
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ private List<String> parseList(String argument) {
 			} else {
 				int stop = start + 1;
 				while (stop < length
-						&& !Character.isSpaceChar(argument.charAt(stop))) {
+						&& !Character.isWhitespace(argument.charAt(stop))) {
 					stop++;
 				}
 				result.add(argument.substring(start, stop));
@@ -355,9 +355,12 @@ private static String dequote(String value) {
 
 	private static String stripWhitespace(String value) {
 		final StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
-		for (int i = 0; i < value.length(); i++) {
-			if (!Character.isSpaceChar(value.charAt(i)))
-				b.append(value.charAt(i));
+		int length = value.length();
+		for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
+			char ch = value.charAt(i);
+			if (!Character.isWhitespace(ch)) {
+				b.append(ch);
+			}
 		}
 		return b.toString();
 	}