China, Indonesia plan missile cooperation, minister says

China and Indonesia will cooperate on missiles and rockets, and China will help transfer technology so factories can be built in Indonesia, Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said after security talks in Jakarta on August 21.

Sjafrie gave no further details on the missile and rocket cooperation. He also said Jakarta and Beijing would hold another Heping Garuda military exercise this year, a recurring joint drill focused on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and military-to-military cooperation.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Defence Minister Dong Jun met their Indonesian counterparts for talks on political, security and defence cooperation. The meetings included the inaugural China-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Dialogue Mechanism.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono called the talks “an important milestone” in bilateral relations and said the platform would guide cooperation across political, economic, maritime, people-to-people and security areas.

The talks came days after Jakarta and Beijing held a joint navy drill off Taiwan's east coast. Indonesia and China said that was a “passing exercise” involving an Indonesian frigate returning from Vladivostok in Russia. Taiwan called it a “military provocation” by the Chinese Communist Party.

Wang said Beijing and Jakarta should increase strategic communication and coordination as representatives of the Global South.

Indonesia says it follows a “free and active” foreign policy and seeks to balance relations with Beijing and Washington. International relations researcher Pieter Pandie of the CSIS think tank told AFP that Indonesia's security and defence relationship with China remained less developed than its cooperation with Western and Asian partners, and said he would not treat the meeting as proof of a realignment toward Beijing.