Indonesia wants to hold regular military exercises with the United States near the sparsely populated Natuna archipelago, an area of the South China Sea near China's claims, a navy spokesman said today.
Although Indonesia is not a claimant in the South China Sea, the military has accused China of including parts of Natuna within its so called 'Nine-Dash Line,' the vague boundary used on Chinese maps to lay claim to about 90 percent of the sea.
The United States, which raised concerns on Friday about China's rapid reclamation of reefs in the area, held a joint military exercise over the weekend with Indonesia in Batam, about 300 miles (480 km) from Natuna.
The military exercise included the use of surveillance and patrol aircraft, such as the P-3 Orion, which can detect surface vessels and submarines.
Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu told Reuters last week that in May he would visit Natuna, a scattering of 157 mostly uninhabited islands off the northwest coast of Borneo, to finalise plans on upgrading its small military base.
Indonesian officials said the joint military exercises with the United States and planned military build-up in Natuna were not in response to any specific threat.
President Joko Widodo last month said that China's main claims to the majority of the disputed sea had no legal basis in international law, but Jakarta wanted to remain an 'honest broker' in one of Asia's most thorny territorial disputes.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims to the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.
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