# Indonesia Pushes for Larger Joint Military Drills With China Amid Balancing Act > Indonesia is pressing Beijing to broaden the scope and frequency of joint military exercises between the two countries, according to Nikkei Asia, a move that signals Jakarta's intent to deepen defens… - Source: Morning Sun - Canonical URL: https://morningsun.jpn.com/article/indonesia-pushes-for-larger-joint-military-drills-with-china-amid-balancing-act - Author: Paul - Section: Indonesia - Published: 2026-08-21T11:44:54.357Z - Updated: 2026-08-21T11:44:54.357Z - Tags: indonesia --- Indonesia is pressing Beijing to broaden the scope and frequency of joint military exercises between the two countries, according to Nikkei Asia, a move that signals Jakarta's intent to deepen defense ties with China even as it navigates a delicate security balance in the Indo-Pacific. The push comes as Indonesian officials look to expand cooperation beyond the relatively modest naval and coast guard drills the two nations have held in recent years. Details on the scale of the proposed expansion, including which branches of the armed forces would be involved and how often exercises would take place, were not fully outlined in the report, but the request marks a notable shift in tone from a country that has traditionally kept China at arm's length militarily while welcoming its investment. Indonesia's foreign policy has long been guided by a doctrine of "bebas aktif," or free and active non-alignment, which allows Jakarta to engage major powers on its own terms without formally joining any bloc. Under President Prabowo Subianto, that approach appears to be extending further into the defense realm, with Indonesia simultaneously courting military cooperation with the United States, Australia, Japan and China rather than picking a single strategic patron. For Beijing, an expanded military relationship with Southeast Asia's largest economy and most populous nation would be a diplomatic win, offering a counterweight to the web of US-aligned security partnerships that have grown across the region, including the Quad grouping involving Japan, the United States, Australia and India, and Washington's expanding access agreements with the Philippines. The timing is notable given the unresolved friction between Jakarta and Beijing over waters near the Natuna Islands, where China's expansive claims in the South China Sea overlap with Indonesia's exclusive economic zone. Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels have periodically entered those waters in past years, prompting protests from Jakarta and occasional deployments of Indonesian naval assets to the area. Analysts have long viewed this friction as a natural limit on how close Jakarta would be willing to draw its military relationship with China. Indonesia's move to seek broader drills with China nonetheless fits a wider pattern of hedging behavior among Southeast Asian nations, many of which rely on China economically while looking to the United States, Japan and other partners for security assurances. Malaysia and Thailand have both held exercises with Chinese forces in recent years, and Indonesia's request suggests it does not want to be left behind in cultivating that channel of engagement, even as it also expands drills with the US-led Garuda Shield exercises and maritime cooperation with Japan's Self-Defense Forces. For Tokyo, the development is likely to draw close attention. Japan has invested heavily in recent years in strengthening ties with Jakarta, including through the transfer of defense equipment and coast guard capacity-building support, framed in part as an effort to help Indonesia and other Southeast Asian states resist coercion in disputed waters. A deeper China-Indonesia military relationship could complicate that calculus, even if Jakarta insists its outreach to Beijing does not come at the expense of other partnerships. Regional security specialists frequently note that Indonesia's armed forces, and much of its political establishment, remain wary of overreliance on any single foreign power, a legacy of the country's Cold War-era experience with both Washington and Moscow. That caution suggests any expanded drills with China would likely be incremental and carefully calibrated, rather than a wholesale pivot in Jakarta's defense posture. The push also comes against the backdrop of growing Chinese defense diplomacy across Southeast Asia, part of a broader effort by Beijing to normalize its military presence in the region through training exchanges, port calls and joint exercises. Expanding cooperation with Indonesia, a founding member of ASEAN and a country whose foreign policy stance often shapes the bloc's collective posture toward China, would be a significant addition to that effort. How Washington and Tokyo respond to the request, if it moves forward, will be closely watched. Both have framed their own defense engagement with Jakarta as complementary to Indonesia's independent foreign policy rather than an attempt to draw it into an anti-China coalition, a framing that has allowed Jakarta room to maneuver between competing powers without triggering diplomatic backlash from any single partner. No timeline has been given for when expanded exercises might begin, and it remains unclear whether Beijing has agreed to Jakarta's request. Nikkei Asia's report indicates the proposal originated from the Indonesian side, leaving China's response, and the practical scope of any future drills, as open questions that will shape how the relationship develops in the months ahead. --- Originally published by Morning Sun. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://morningsun.jpn.com/article/indonesia-pushes-for-larger-joint-military-drills-with-china-amid-balancing-act.