JAKARTA, Indonesia: Troops from the US, Indonesia and five other countries began annual exercises on the main Indonesian island of Java on Thursday, as China’s growing aggression raises concerns.
US and Indonesian militaries have been holding the Super Garuda Shield training exercise since 2009, with Australia, Japan and Singapore joining last year. This year’s exercises involve the forces of the United Kingdom and France, with a total of about 5,000 personnel.
China sees the expanded exercises as a threat and accuses the US of building a NATO-like Indo-Pacific alliance to curb China’s growing military and diplomatic influence in the region.
Baluran, a coastal town in East Java province has the presence of military observers representing Brunei, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea and East Timor.
The commanding general of the US military in the Pacific, General Charles Flynn, said the 19 nations involved in the exercise were a strong demonstration of multilateral solidarity to protect a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
“Super Garuda Shield 2023 builds on last year’s tremendous success,” Flynn said in a statement released Tuesday by the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, “This joint, multinational exercise demonstrates our collective commitment and like-minded unity that enables a stable, secure, more peaceful, a freer and more open Indo-Pacific region.”
The statement said at least 2,100 US and 1,900 Indonesian forces will strengthen their interoperability capabilities through training and cultural exchanges that include command and control simulation, amphibious exercises, airborne operations, airfield occupation exercises and combined joint field training that will culminate action with live fire.
The Garuda Shield is being held in several places, including the waters around Natuna in the southern South China Sea, a fault line of the US-China rivalry.
Indonesia and China have generally had positive relations, but Jakarta has expressed concern over what it sees as Chinese encroachment into its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.
Increased activities by Chinese coast guard ships and fishing boats in the area have unnerved Jakarta, prompting the Indonesian Navy to conduct a major exercise in the waters around Natuna in July 2020.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Thursday commented on China’s newly released “Standard Map” that shows its territorial claims in the South China Sea crossing the maritime exclusive economic zones of Malaysia near Sabah and Sarawak and several other countries such as Brunei, the Philippines. , Indonesia and Vietnam.
It called on China to respect international law, saying “the drawing of any (territorial) lines or any claims must be consistent” with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin urged other countries on Wednesday to refrain from “over-interpreting” the map.
Malaysia’s foreign ministry on Wednesday rejected China’s “unilateral claims” and said the map was not “binding” on Malaysia.
India on Tuesday raised a formal objection over a map that shows Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Doklam plateau lie inside China’s borders.
The Philippines said Thursday that the map was China’s latest attempt to assert sovereignty over Philippine features and maritime zones, saying it had no basis in international law.
Vietnam also protested that the map and the “nine-dash” claim violate Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands and jurisdiction over its waters and must be invalid because they violate international law, particularly UNCLOS.
