Indonesia to reinforce border areas amid South China Sea tension

[webfact]

Indonesia to reinforce border areas amid South China Sea tension



JAKARTA: -- Indonesia plans to build more military posts in border areas to safeguard the archipelago's sovereignty and territorial integrity, especially in areas facing the South China Sea, The Jakarta Globe reported.

National Development Planning Minister Andrinof Chaniago said on Friday he was working with the Defense Ministry on a comprehensive defense plan to be presented to President Joko Widodo, and that the border reinforcements would be part of it.

Andrinof said he had suggested to form a joint research team with the Defence Ministry to implement the plan, which would include building military bases in Tanjung Datuk, West Kalimantan; on North Kalimantan’s Tarakan Island; and on the Natuna Islands, which are part of Riau Islands province and are located off the northwest coast of Kalimantan, close to waters claimed by China.

Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said he supported the initiative, adding that border areas should be the nation’s top priority as they can be contested by neighboring countries.

In May last year, Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry had to interfere as Malaysia had started construction of a lighthouse in the Tanjung Datuk border area. Construction was halted after negotiations.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, sparking increasingly tense conflict with countries like Vietnam and the Philippines. Indonesia, not formally involved in the territorial dispute, has so far been pushing for a diplomatic solution.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/indonesia-to-reinforce-border-areas-amid-south-china-sea-tension


-- Thai PBS 2015-07-13

[jpinx]

This has the potential to become very interesting .......

[727Sky]

This has the potential to become very interesting .......

I agree if there is one major flash point to kick off world events that can spiral into unwanted ways it is the South China sea and China's insistence that they have claim.

https://youtu.be/yGXzUSYjVzg

[callaway]

be interesting. Taking a deepwater drillship to disputed area in the next 3 weeks. Will keep you updated on the eventualities. Vietnamese and Russian joint venture so maybe ok?

[metisdead]

A post in violation of fair use policy has been removed.

[Publicus]

be interesting. Taking a deepwater drillship to disputed area in the next 3 weeks. Will keep you updated on the eventualities. Vietnamese and Russian joint venture so maybe ok?

Depends on the Vietnamese who as we know bristle at anything Chinese and are pulling up their dukes over the South China Sea.

If the CCP Dictators in Beijing blow up a couple of Russians in the process, Putin would declare the Russians heroes and give medals to their surviving spouse, families while the Russian people eat it right up.

The Indonesians set off a bunch of bombs in a CCP Chinese fishing vessel they'd seized so there's no telling what the Vietnamese will do if provoked further. They have Russian Kilo class subs with missiles onboard that reach southern China and they are ordering more. Vietnam signed with India for big bucks lines of credit to buy armaments and with the US for $160m of assistance. Hanoi has Russian Su series fighter aircraft with more on the way.

If CCP Boyz put their giant rig back in Vietnam's EEZ as they did last year and as they're promising to do again, the waters are going to get stormy.

Have a good and safe working trip out there on this one and yes, do keep us advised from the inside out there.

[Publicus]

Indonesia is pretty fierce on this.

In May its Navy blew up a CCP Chinese fishing vessel it had gone out and seized because the vessel had been regularly factory fishing in the Indonesian EEZ. The Chinese steel hull 300 gross ton Gue Xie Yu 12662 was a flaming headline photo throughout the region's media, which has the CCP Boyz in Beijing fire engine red.

The Dictators in Beijing are still livid cause the recently elected president of Indonesia is not the 50-50 guy his predecessor was. Prez Jokowi has the full support of the Indonesian military and is rushing through approval to construct a new naval and air base on its West Kalimantan island in the SCS.

India btw recently completed a huge Andaman islands naval and air base at the northern end of the Strait of Malacca as a central part of its "Move East" military policy (which used to be "Look East" until recently). India has signed strategic naval agreements with Vietnam and Malaysia while ignoring repeated and really very loud commands from Beijing to stay away from the SCS stuff.

The CCP Boyz are getting serious heartburn all around in this as Malaysia now has got off the dime to send Navy and Coast Guard ships out to a CCP "research vessel" parked 87 miles inside the Malaysia EEZ for the past two years, to "observe and monitor" the sucker.

S Korea recently donated a Naval corvette to the Phils and is selling 20 fighter jets to Manila while Japan has been donating to the Phils a dozen small Coast Guard craft and is discussing with Manila positioning Japanese self defense forces in the Phils to complement American forces soon to move back to Subic Bay Naval Base and to Clark Air Field.

US B-1 stealth bombers are coming soon to Australia.

In short, the CCP Dictators in Beijing need to think again about all of this.