China’s Ministry of National Defense said on Tuesday that Chinese and Indonesian naval vessels will conduct a navigation exercise in waters east of Taiwan island in mid-August. It will be the first time the Chinese and a foreign navy have conducted an exercise in the waters, as a Chinese military affairs expert told the Global Times on Tuesday that the exercise carries great significance, demonstrating China’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the exclusive economic zone east of Taiwan island.
In mid-August, China’s naval ship Honghe will conduct a navigation exercise with an Indonesian Navy ship east of Taiwan island. The drill will focus on subjects including communication drills and underway replenishment. It aims to boost the two navies’ capacity for joint operations, deepen practical bilateral cooperation and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, according to China’s Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday.
China and Indonesia have held joint exercises on several occasions. From late November to early December, the two countries held a joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise, involving forces from the Chinese and Indonesian armed forces’ land, naval and air services.
The upcoming exercise by the Chinese and Indonesian navies in waters east of Taiwan Island will be the first naval exercise between China and a foreign country in those waters, making it “highly significant,” military affairs expert Zhang Junshe told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Zhang said the move is intended to clearly convey China’s position to the outside world: “China has sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the exclusive economic zone east of Taiwan Island.”
“Inviting foreign naval vessels to conduct training in waters under China’s own jurisdiction is normal and reasonable. The act also demonstrates that China has sovereign rights and jurisdiction over these waters. The relevant scope of China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests includes the territorial waters east of Taiwan island, as well as the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf,” Zhang said.
Previously, the PLA Eastern Theater Command conducted joint exercises codenamed “Justice Mission 2025” in the Taiwan Straits, and in waters to the north, southwest, southeast, and east of the island. The exercises highlight the PLA’s sacred mission to firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, protect the fundamental interests, security and well-being of the 1.4 billion Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots, oppose “Taiwan independence” separatist forces, and oppose interference by external forces.
Since June this year, China Coast Guard vessels have conducted regular law-enforcement patrols in waters east of Taiwan island, with the aim of exercising jurisdiction in accordance with the law and safeguarding China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.
These actions were necessary in response to the unilateral decision by Japan and the Philippines to announce the launch of boundary negotiations concerning waters east of Taiwan island, which seriously infringes upon China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.
Zhang said the joint naval exercise by China and Indonesia in these waters will further expand China’s “toolbox” for safeguarding national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. “It fully demonstrates that China has both the capability and firm resolve to uphold its maritime rights and interests through routine practical maritime actions, and to demonstrate its sovereign rights and jurisdiction in relevant waters east of Taiwan island.”
This will be the second instance of maritime cooperation between China and Indonesia this month and another example of the increasingly substantive military-to-military relationship between the two countries.
A Chinese PLA Navy’s task group, comprising the training ship Qijiguang (Hull 83) and amphibious dock landing ship Kunlunshan (Hull 998), which is carrying out the far seas internship training and visit mission, arrived at Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, Indonesia, on August 2, for a four-day goodwill visit, according to China Military Online.
“In recent years, the navies of China and Indonesia have continuously expanded cooperation including joint drills and reciprocal ship visits, advancing bilateral military to military ties in breadth and depth,” Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, stated at the regular press conference on July 30.
Zhang said the series of maritime exchanges between China and Indonesia not only represents a concrete implementation of the consensus on building a China-Indonesia community with a shared future, but also further strengthens strategic mutual trust between the two militaries.
Such cooperation, he said, will help enhance the two sides’ ability to jointly respond to maritime risks and challenges, inject positive momentum into maintaining order in surrounding waters and promoting regional maritime security and stability, and set a useful example for equal and mutually beneficial maritime defense exchanges among countries in the region.