Widodo inspects Indonesia's South China Sea defenses.
JAKARTA -- President Joko Widodo has visited some remote Indonesian islands in the South China Sea for the second time this year to witness an exercise by the Indonesian air force over waters disputed with China.
Widodo returned to the Natuna islands on Thursday after a first visit in June, this time on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI). The event is always marked in Jakarta, but Widodo opted to observe the sensitive military exercise instead.
TNI said the drill involved 73 aircraft -- including Sukhois, F-16s, and Super Tucanos -- and 2,200 air force personnel. According to a TNI website, the exercise included air combat, strike, and defense activities.
Indonesia staged the exercise after Malaysia and Singapore launched Exercise Bersama Lima on Tuesday, a three-week joint military maneuver in the South China Sea also involving Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K.
Apart from China and Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan have various overlapping maritime claims in the South China Sea.
Nobody has stated explicitly that the exercises are being conducted with China as the perceived enemy while it continues to lay claim to most of the South China Sea, a resource-rich area with vital shipping lanes
"This is just a regular drill," said Arrmanatha Nasir, an Indonesian foreign ministry spokesperson. "Indonesia, as a sovereign nation, has a right to conduct a military exercise in whichever part of its territory."
Widodo ordered stepped-up security around Natuna in Riau Islands Province after a maritime spat earlier this year when Indonesian authorities arrested fishing vessels from China.
Indonesia has said it remains neutral and has no claims to the South China Sea, but an exclusive economic zone extending 200 miles off Natuna overlaps with China's unilateral Nine-Dash Line, which extends north from the Natuna area towards Taiwan.
Widodo has also ordered accelerated development of Natuna's fisheries and of its oil and gas reserves to boost the local economy following years of neglect. The president used his visit to inaugurate a passenger terminal at the airport, and to inspect construction of a cold storage facility.
"With this air bridge, we hope the mobility of people and goods will accelerate," Widodo said at Natuna's Ranai Airport.
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