• This year’s exercises include more than 5,000 people from the US, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, and Singapore
• Washington wants to form a united front against China’s military expansion in the South China Sea.

BATURAJA, Indonesia: Soldiers from the US, Indonesia, and Australia participated in a live-fire drill Friday as part of annual joint military exercises on Sumatra island.

This year’s exercises are the largest since they began in 2009, with over 5,000 participants from the US, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, and Singapore.

China fears the extended drills.

Chinese state media say that the US is trying to limit China’s military and diplomatic power by setting up a NATO-style alliance in the Indo-Pacific.

The UK, Canada, France, India, Malaysia, South Korea, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor sent observers to the exercises.

The US Indo-Pacific commander, Adm. John C. Aquilino Aquilino, said the 14 nations were signalling their tighter ties as China claims almost the entire South China Sea and undertakes exercises threatening Taiwan.

“The destabilizing actions by the People’s Republic of China as it applied to the threatening activities and actions against Taiwan is exactly what we are trying to avoid,”  he said at a news conference with Indonesian military leader Gen. Andika Perkasa in Baturaja, South Sumatra.

“We’ll continue to help deliver a free and open Indo-Pacific and be ready when we need to respond to any contingency,” Aquilino added.

Indonesia and China have positive relations, but Jakarta is concerned about Chinese incursions in the South China Sea.

A University of Indonesia security analyst said that even though Indonesia is not a claimant state in the disputed South China Sea, it has been “dragged along” in the territorial dispute since 2010, when China claimed part of Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone in the Natuna Islands.

The exclusive economic zone overlaps Beijing’s unilaterally designated “nine-dash line“

Jakarta is worried about more Chinese coast guard and fishing boat activity, so in July 2020, Indonesia’s navy will do a big drill around Natuna in the southern South China Sea.

Bakrie added. Indonesia sees the present exercises with the US as a deterrent in defence of the Natuna Islands, while Washington wants to form a united front against China’s military expansion in the South China Sea.

She claimed, “Indonesia wants to send the message that it is fully prepared for any high-intensity conflict in the South China Sea area.”

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