TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsIndonesia vessel is holding passing drills with China, navy spokesperson says
First Admiral Tunggul, a Navy spokesperson, said the exercises were not intended for "war fighting", but were merely "passing exercises", which is consistent with Indonesia's non-aligned foreign policy.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
Indonesian Navy personnel gear up for a disaster emergency drill aboard dr. Soeharso-990 warship in Riau waters near Malacca Strait on Dec. 3, 2025. (Antara/Bayu Pratama)
A
vessel will conduct exercises with the countries it passes through as it heads home, the Indonesian Navy said on Wednesday when asked about a planned drill between Indonesia and China off the east coast of Taiwan.
First Admiral Tunggul, a Navy spokesperson, said the exercises were not intended for "war fighting", but were merely "passing exercises", which is consistent with Indonesia's non-aligned foreign policy.
Taiwan has condemned China's plan to hold a navy drill with Indonesia this month off the democratic island's east coast, saying Beijing seeks to create the "false impression" that it has jurisdiction over the area.
China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and insists it has authority over the waters surrounding the island, which Taipei rejects.
The Chinese defence ministry said Tuesday one of its warships and an Indonesian frigate will conduct a "passage exercise" east of Taiwan in mid-August to "enhance the joint operational capabilities of the two navies" and "jointly safeguard regional peace and stability".
Taiwan's top China policy body hit back late Tuesday, saying it "strongly condemned the CCP military provocation", referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
"This move is, in reality... aimed at creating the false impression for the international community that the CCP has jurisdiction over waters east of Taiwan and blatantly infringing upon our national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests," the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in a statement.
China's announcement came as Taiwan holds its largest military drills of the year, aimed at preparing its population for a potential Chinese invasion.
Beijing deploys warships, fighter jets and coast guard vessels around Taiwan on an almost daily basis to assert its claim of sovereignty.
In June, Chinese ships began to patrol an area of the Western Pacific near Taiwan's east coast, which Taipei branded as "provocative" and "expansionism in disguise".
During that operation, the China Coast Guard for the first time radioed cargo ships passing Taiwan for information about their crew and destination.
That was followed last week by China's Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration announcing "traffic control measures" for the Taiwan Strait as Typhoon Dolphin swept towards the region.
