Natuna Islands

From rescue helicopters to air surveillance equipment, defence manufacturers jostled in Jakarta this week to claim one of the region's biggest prizes: a slice of Indonesia's shopping list as the country updates its ageing air and sea security capability.

Indonesia's president visited the Natuna Islands aboard a warship on Thursday, making a bold move to assert sovereignty over the area in the southern reaches of the South China Sea after Beijing stated its "over-lapping claim" on nearby waters.

China's South China Sea territorial claims are demarcated in vague terms by the nine-dash line, a U-shaped boundary that loops down from Taiwan as far as Indonesia's Natuna Islands.

Indonesia could take China to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if Beijing's claim to the majority of the South China Sea and part of Indonesian territory is not resolved through dialogue, Indonesia's security chief said today.

An Indonesian military transport plane crashed into a hotel and houses in the northern Sumatra city of Medan on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people, an official said.

From rescue helicopters to air surveillance equipment, defence manufacturers jostled in Jakarta this week to claim one of the region's biggest prizes: a slice of Indonesia's shopping list as the country updates its ageing air and sea security capability.

Indonesia's president visited the Natuna Islands aboard a warship on Thursday, making a bold move to assert sovereignty over the area in the southern reaches of the South China Sea after Beijing stated its "over-lapping claim" on nearby waters.

China's South China Sea territorial claims are demarcated in vague terms by the nine-dash line, a U-shaped boundary that loops down from Taiwan as far as Indonesia's Natuna Islands.

Indonesia could take China to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if Beijing's claim to the majority of the South China Sea and part of Indonesian territory is not resolved through dialogue, Indonesia's security chief said today.

An Indonesian military transport plane crashed into a hotel and houses in the northern Sumatra city of Medan on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people, an official said.