Indonesian Frigate Joins China Naval Drill Near Taiwan
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- Indonesian Navy frigate KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai joined China's PLAN guided-missile frigate Honghe for what Jakarta called a "passing exercise" off Taiwan's east coast on August 12, occurring during Taiwan's annual Han Kuang military drill.
- Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council condemned Beijing's "provocation" after China announced the drill on August 11 and asked Jakarta for an explanation, while Indonesia's Foreign Ministry acknowledged the location was "particularly sensitive" but said its vessel was simply transiting home from exercises with the Russian navy in Vladivostok.
- Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto met US Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby in Jakarta on the same day as the passing exercise, underscoring simultaneous US and Chinese engagement with the world's largest island nation.
- Experts told DW that China's drill with Indonesia carried little tactical significance but served to "claim its capability in the waters," with one researcher warning Jakarta not to "be too naive" about Taiwanese and American reactions to participation in Chinese naval activities.
- Indonesia has granted blanket overflight clearance for US military aircraft while also conducting exercises with China's navy, a duality researchers say tests the limits of Jakarta's "free and active" foreign policy under intensifying superpower pressure.
- Taiwan hosts roughly 350,000 Indonesian citizens — the largest foreign resident group — a stake researchers cited as a reason Indonesia would likely focus on evacuation rather than combatant roles in any Taiwan contingency.
- Researcher Ratih Kabinawa said the current Indonesian administration "lacks clear guidelines" for its nonaligned posture amid Taiwan Strait tensions, though she judged direct Chinese invasion involvement unlikely.
Why it matters: Even a symbolic Chinese naval exercise off Taiwan pulls Indonesia directly into the US-China rivalry it has spent decades avoiding, and the same-day meeting between Prabowo and a senior US defense official shows both superpowers now competing for Jakarta's allegiance on overlapping tracks. With 350,000 Indonesian citizens living in Taiwan as the largest foreign resident group, any escalation of a Taiwan contingency would force Jakarta into a non-combat evacuation role regardless of its preferred neutrality.
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