The decision was made at a meeting of military commanders from the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia, which will host the exercise in the North Natuna Sea, the southernmost area in the South China Sea.
The exercise, which will begin in September, will not include combat training, Indonesian military chief Admiral Yudo Margono told the Antara news agency, adding that the aim of the exercise was to reinforce “ASEAN centrality.”
ASEAN solidarity has been tested in recent years by the US-China rivalry in the South China Sea. ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia have been locked in a series of competing claims with Beijing, which has claimed vast swathes of the sea, including Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Philippine military personnel and Department of National Defense officers attend the ASEAN Fleet Review in Subic Bay, Philippines on May 11. Photo: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters/FILE.
Indonesian military spokesman Julius Widjojono said the exercise was related to “high disaster risks in Asia, especially Southeast Asia.”
As a body of water with $3.5 trillion worth of seaborne trade annually, the South China Sea has been at the center of recent tensions as the Chinese government has repeatedly asserted its sovereignty claims and deployed large numbers of coast guard and fishing vessels up to 1,500 kilometers off its coast.
ASEAN has long been pushing for a maritime code of conduct with China, and many of its member states have clashed with Beijing in recent months.
Nguyen Quang Minh (According to CNN)
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