China and Indonesia staged a joint naval exercise in the Java Sea only days after Beijing offered to recover the sunken KRI Nanggala 402 off Bali for free
, “free” trumped other salvage offers from Australia and the United States, a soft power play met with suspicion by some regional security observers.“I think there’s a dimension to this, which is about doing more with Indonesia as a bit of a statement to Australia and others as well,” said Blaxland, professor of international security at ANU.
Australia’s own defence relationship with Indonesia, its near neighbour the largest country among the Association of South-east Asian Nations regional bloc, is a top priority for the Morrison government in its stated goal of pursuing regional security in the Indo-Pacific.
“It’s not that long ago that Australia was talking up its expanding exercise relationship with the PLA,” Shoebridge said.
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