Posted on 07/25/2020 1:30:35 PM PDT by RomanSoldier19
The Western Fleet of Indonesia's Navy is holding a series of major military exercises in the Java Sea and the South China Sea amid rising tensions between China and the United States in the international waterway.
In what could be seen as sending a clear message to China, the series of drills began July 18 and will conclude Sunday, July 26. The drills will include an amphibious exercise on a beach at Singkep, part of the Riau archipelago where the two seas meet.
On the agenda are sea battle simulations and 2,000 military personnel with 26 warships, 19 aircraft, 18 marine combat vehicles, Naval Fleet Command I spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Fajar Rohadi said.
"At the fleet level, this is the most complex exercise because there will be more exercises involving all naval units," Rohadi said.
He added the Java Sea drills included damage control activities, communications, simulations of anti-submarine and surface warfare in comments made Wednesday to BenarNews, a five-language online news service affiliated with Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Military observer Beni Sukadis, at the Indonesian Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies, commented on the countrys efforts to assert its maritime sovereignty.
He told BenarNews, Even though we dont have many warships, we are showing that we have the determination to assert our sovereignty. In terms of capacity building and professionalism, routine exercises are necessary. It can be once or twice a year. It sends a message that the Navy is trying to improve its capacity.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...
China has been less aggressive with Indonesia than most of the Nations around the South China Sea.
Indonesia is relatively big in population - over 267 million people, it is the world’s 4th most populous country as well as the most populous Muslim-majority country.
It has the 14th biggest land area, and sits like a fence blocking Chinese access to the Indian Ocean, and Middle Eastern oil and gas. Also, it has the 16th largest GDP.
Indonesia has a history of violence against their Chinese minority population, and communists, who tried to take over the country by force (and were supported by China). When I say violence, I mean killing over a half million people, and purging communists so hard, that it leaves Beijing stepping carefully a half century later.
Indonesia is ready to flare up against China and ethnic Chinese, at the drop of a hat.
They have some jihadi preachers who would love to cook up 9-11 style attack on China over their oppression of the muslim Uighurs.
With Indonesian participation, the USA could implement an effective oil blockade on China, covering all the narrow straits with land based anti-ship missiles.
China needs to step carefully around volatile Indonesia sensitivities - it is taking longer to buy off their elites, except for the ethnic Chinese.
Their military is pipsqueak.
There are two basic ways to get people to cooperate with you. One is to develop a relationship that is mutually beneficial so that helping you helps them. Another way is to threaten them. China has threatened virtually all of their neighbors, starting with the attack on India which was probably intended to generate an outside threat to take the Chinese people’s attention off the failures of the CCP. That failed. China has also constructed dams along all the rivers that run through China and then flow into their neighboring countries. This gives them tremendous influence as they can starve those countries for water. The Chinese have threatened Japan and Taiwan. While Taiwan is no big threat, Japan has started an arms race with a huge increase in military spending. Then there are the almost constant threats to America.
I think that if a conflict breaks out we will see the neighboring states form a cohesive block. The neighbors will back Tibet, the Urgurs and Hong Kong separatists. China, who has actively been looking for an external enemy, will find a plethora of them.
Indonesia has a history of violence against their Chinese minority population, and communists
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not to mention wholesale slaughter of Christians
“Their military is pipsqueak.”
True.
But because of their sentiment (e.g. hatred of Chinese), it would not take that much to get them to accept the hosting of the new hypersonic and Intermediate Range missiles from the USA.
That could effectively deter, and possibly deny China much of the South China Sea, and vital shipping routes to the Mid-East for oil and gas to their East Coast. Politically, they are major regional chess piece, and a real tough sell for the Chinese.
What they lack in Military, they somewhat make up for with location. In the next Trump term, Indonesia could be transformed into an impassable Naval cordon for China, with US support.
their navy is even pipsqueaker
we will see the neighboring states form a cohesive block
Don’t count on it. They’ll count on the U.S. though. Dutarte is sucking up to the Chicoms.
“their navy is even pipsqueaker”
They don’t need much of a Navy, to make a Strategic contribution to containing or defeating communist aggression - they have the location.
Closing the Straits of Malacca to China during hostilities would be huge. Singapore has the facilities, other allies have the ships and crews. Indonesia could host teams of US Marines along the ridge lines, with anti-ship missiles and drone patrols.
Those special purpose Marine units are already standing up in Hawaii, and training for short notice deployment around the Indo-Pac area. Several new weapon systems are being fast tracked to flood the zone out there with new capabilities to deny the area to the PLAN (China’s Navy).
The Combined Naval exercises can be just symbolic, or an early stage capability building - but if they are part of a deliberate alliance to contain/deter/defeat Chinese communist aggression, then the rest of the team can build them up quick.
“Dont count on it. “
I don’t expect anyone to do anything about China until China is thoroughly on the ropes. Then, expect armies to attack those many dams that are blocking water to their countries.
Its technically against the Philippines new anti-terror law to criticize Communist China.
ABS-CBN network was shut down (think ABC). Duterte wants the Lopez family to sell it to a Communist Chinese-owned group (SM). Likewise, Duterte is going after the Ayala Group, forcing its sale to a Communist Chinese-backed group (again, SM)
While the Philippines have been locked down, the Cheap Communist Chinese Labor Express continues to flow in to the Philippines.
The Indonesian Air Force has 37,850 personnel and equipped with 110 combat aircraft.
110
The inventory includes five Su-27 and eleven Su-30 as the main fighters (from Russia) supplemented by 33 F-16 Fighting Falcons (from the US), Hawk 200, KAI T-50 and Embraer EMB314.
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