Indonesia Parades Air-Force Arsenal Over South China Sea.
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Indonesia made a show of military force in the South China Sea on Thursday, flying its air force across a resource-rich area where the country has been increasingly clashing with Chinese fishing boats.
The exercises, over waters around Indonesia's Natuna Islands between Singapore and Borneo, comprised more than 2,000 air-force personnel and almost the entire air-force fleet, with dozens of aircraft including F-16s, Sukhois, Hercules and various choppers. The military described the maneuvers as designed to "neutralize opposing air forces" and maintain Indonesia's sovereignty.
Geopolitical experts described the showing as a message to both China, which claims fishing rights to waters around the Natunas as part of its sweeping claims to almost all of the South China Sea, and citizens in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation where President Joko Widodo has been trying to build up military and border defenses with limited economic resources.
Mr. Widodo traveled to the Natunas for the second time in less than four months to watch the drills and check infrastructure development in the area, including an expanded airport and cold-storage facilities to draw more Indonesian fishing boats to the area. Those measures and a new drive to develop the vast, untapped petroleum resources around the Natunas are meant to increase Indonesia's hold on the region.
China doesn't dispute Indonesia's claim to the Natuna archipelago, which is home to nearly 100,000 Indonesians, but says it has the right to fish in waters near the islands. Indonesia, however, claims rights to an exclusive, United Nations-defined economic zone extending 200 nautical miles from the islands.
Indonesia has tried for years to avoid being dragged into territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where countries including China, Vietnam and the Philippines all have claims. But in June, Indonesia's military said the number of Chinese fishing vessels had risen around the Natunas this year and that fishing was an excuse for China to lay claim to the area. China has argued that the two countries have overlapping claims over maritime interests in some waters of the South China Sea.
"The exercise has one aim and two audiences," said Ian Storey, Southeast Asia expert at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. "The aim is to demonstrate that Indonesia's armed forces stand ready to defend the country's natural resources around the Natunas. The two audiences are the Indonesian people and the Chinese government."
—Anita Rachman contributed to this article.
Write to Ben Otto at ben.otto@wsj.com
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