BATURAJA: Soldiers from US, Indonesia and Australia joined a live-fire drill, part of annual joint combat exercises on Sumatra Island amid growing Chinese maritime activity in Indo-Pacific region. A total of more than 5,000 personnel from US, Indonesia, Australia, Japan and Singapore are participating in this year's exercises, making them largest since they began in 2009. Expanded drills are seen by China as a threat. Chinese state media have accused US of building an Indo-Pacific alliance similar to NATO to limit China's growing military and diplomatic influence in region.

 United Kingdom, Canada, France, India, Malaysia, South Korea, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and East Timor also sent observers to exercises, which began early this month. US Indo-Pacific commander, Adm. John C. Aquilino Aquilino said 14 nations involved in training are signaling their stronger ties as China grows increasingly assertive in claiming virtually entire South China Sea and holds exercises threatening self-ruled Taiwan. "Destabilising actions by People's Republic of China as it applied to threatening activities and actions against Taiwan is exactly what we are trying to avoid," he said at a joint news conference with Indonesian military chief Gen. Andika Perkasa in Baturaja, a coastal town in South Sumatra province. "We'll continue to help deliver a free and open Indo-Pacific and be ready when we need to respond to any contingency," Aquilino said.

 Indonesia and China enjoy generally positive ties, but Jakarta has expressed concern about what it sees as Chinese encroachment in its exclusive economic zone in South China Sea. Despite its official position as a non-claimant state in contested South China Sea, Indonesia has been "dragged along" in territorial dispute since 2010 after China claimed part of Indonesia's exclusive economic zone in northern region of Natuna Islands, said Connie Rahakundini Bakrie, a security analyst at University of Indonesia. Indonesia sees current exercises with US as a deterrent in defense of Natuna Islands, while for Washington, drills are part of efforts to forge a united front against China's military buildup in South China Sea, Bakrie said. "Indonesia wants to send message that it is fully prepared for any high-intensity conflict in South China Sea area," she said.

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 13 2022

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