U.S., China join naval drills in Indonesia despite rifts

The United States and China have sent warships to the multinational naval drills that began in Indonesia on June 5, despite the rifts between the two powers.

The United States and China have sent warships to the multinational naval drills that began in Indonesia on June 5, despite the rifts between the two powers.

Washington and Beijing are engaged in fierce competition on diplomatic, military, technological and economic fronts.

The U.S. military has stepped up its Asia-Pacific operations to counter an increasingly assertive China, which has recently staged several rounds of war drills around Taiwan.

But both dispatched warships to the 2023 Multilateral Naval Exercise (MNEK) hosted by Indonesia in its eastern waters off Sulawesi island from Monday to Thursday.

The U.S. Navy has sent a littoral combat ship to the exercise, a US embassy spokesperson in Jakarta told AFP on June 4.

The drills will allow the United States to "join together with like-minded nations, our allies and our partners to work on solving common challenges" such as humanitarian and disaster response, the spokesperson said.

The Chinese Defence Ministry said last week that it would send a destroyer and a frigate at the invitation of the Indonesian Navy.