ASEAN nations yesterday began their first joint naval exercise at a time when several members are responding more strongly to increasing Chinese assertiveness in the area.
The non-combat drills, named ASEAN Solidarity Exercise, include joint maritime patrol operations, search-and-rescue operations, and humanitarian and disaster relief, Indonesian military chief Admiral Yudo Margono said.
He said the five-day exercise in Indonesia’s Natuna waters aims to boost military ties among ASEAN nations and enhance interoperability. The drills also involve civilian groups involved in humanitarian relief and disaster prevention.
Photo: Antara Foto / Teguh Prihatna / via Reuters
ASEAN nations have taken part in naval exercises before with other countries — including both the US and China — but this week’s drills are the first involving just the bloc and are being read by many as a signal to China.
China’s “nine-dash line,” which it uses to demarcate its claim to most of the South China Sea, has brought it into tense standoffs with rival claimants Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines, with Chinese fishing boats and military vessels becoming more aggressive in the disputed waters.
The line also overlaps with a section of Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone extending from the Natuna Islands. Margono initially said the exercises would take place in the North Natuna Sea at the edge of the South China Sea, a fault line in the rivalry between the US and China, following meetings of ASEAN defense officials in Bali, Indonesia, in June.
However, Indonesia, which holds the rotating chair of ASEAN this year, decided to move the drills to the South Natuna Islands, away from the disputed area, apparently to avoid any reaction from Beijing.
China and ASEAN signed a nonbinding 2002 accord that called on rival claimant nations to avoid aggressive actions that could spark armed conflicts, including the occupation of barren islets and reefs, but breaches have persisted.
China has come under intense criticism for its militarization of the South China Sea, but says it has the right to build on its territories.
“Those who carry out any exploration or activities in that area must not violate state territory,” Margono said after an opening ceremony for the exercise attended by ASEAN military leaders on Batam island next to Singapore. “That has been clearly regulated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
Asked whether ASEAN was sending a stronger message against China’s competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, Margono replied: “We have had a firm stance.”
He told reporters that ASEAN has agreed to hold military exercises annually.
In the future, they would be expanded to full war drills involving the army, navy and air force, he said.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS