ASEAN to hold first-ever military exercise in September, says Indonesia military chief

Member countries of ASEAN have agreed to hold their first-ever joint military drills in South China Sea amid Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the region, Indonesian officials said on Thursday.

“We will hold joint military drills in the North Natuna Sea,” Indonesian military chief Yudo Margono said after a meeting of Southeast Asian defence chiefs in Bali.

ASEAN includes 10 Southeast Asian countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The military drills will be conducted in September and will be participated by all the 20 member countries along with observer member Timor-Leste.

The Indonesian military chief Margono said that the exercises will focus on maritime security and rescue, and will not involve combat operations.

“It is about ASEAN centrality,” he said.

This will be the bloc’s first joint military exercise of its own although member states have held naval drills with the US in the past.

The announcement comes after Washington called on Beijing to stop “provocative” behaviour in the disputed waterway after a near-collision with a Philippine vessel and a Chinese fighter pilot’s dangerous manoeuvre near an American surveillance aircraft.

Chinese vessels have also occasionally intruded into the Indonesian-claimed waters of North Natuna where the drills will take place, prompting protests in Jakarta.

Beijing has claimed territorial authority over the South China Sea despite competing claims from other Southeast Asian nations including Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia.

Beijing’s ships have patrolled the area and when confronted have invoked China’s so-called nine-dash line — an area it claims but is contested by its neighbours — to justify its alleged historic rights to the waters.

Last month, during an ASEAN Summit, leaders discussed “serious incidents” that have occurred in the South China Sea and looked upon ongoing negotiations for a code of conduct aimed at reducing the risk of conflict there.

ASEAN has long been decried by critics as a toothless talking shop, and its charter principles of consensus and non-interference have hamstrung its ability to take action.

The bloc will hold its next leaders’ summit in the Indonesian capital Jakarta in September.

With inputs from agencies

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