Indonesia hosts US-led drills amid Chinese encroachment
Indonesia and the United States began to annual military exercises with a dozen other country, including Australia, because the United States pushed US allies to buy more seriously than China.
Organized by the National Armed Forces of Indonesia, this year’s super Garuda Shield, General Tandyo Budi Revita, Deputy Commander of the Army, focused on strengthening regional ties in an unstable global landscape.
“He serves as a common exercise that we stand together to respond quickly and precisely to every difficulty,” he said in a speech with Admiral Samuel Paparo, the US Indo-Pacific Command Command. He said.
Exercise has been done since 2009 by the US and Indonesian troops in Jakarta every year.
The list of the participants has expanded to include Australia, Japan, Singapore, England, France, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Brazil and South Korea since 2022 and brought the total number of troops in the exercise to 6500.
Paparo said expanded participants symbolized a loyalty with mutual respect for the partnership and the sovereignty of each country.
“This represents the deterrence of everyone who hopes to change the facts on the ground with the collective determination of all participants to support the principles of sovereignty.” He said.
While Jakarta usually maintained positive ties with Beijing, he expressed his concerns about China’s rape in the special economic region in the South China Sea.
A few Asian countries also sent observers to the 11 -day war exercise on Jakarta and Sumatra Island. On September 4, they will end with a combined live fire exercise.
Expanded exercises were concerned about China, who accused the US of trying to build a “Asian NATO” to limit China’s growing military and diplomatic influence in the region.
In a recent speech in Singapore, US Defense Minister Pete Hegseth warned that while the US military support is at risk while relying on Chinese economic support.
Hegseth said Washington strengthened the military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to secure the increasing military and economic pressure from China and the provocative actions in the South China Sea from China.
Despite the increasing activities of Chinese coastal security ships and fishing boats in the region, Indonesia tried to confront China and avoid constant economic initiatives.
