Joint India Indonesian Army Exercise Garud Shakti Concludes.

[Dayuhan]

I'm not sure that "training together to counter the scourge of insurgency" necessarily equates to "containing China". Joint naval or air defense exercises would be more oriented toward that goal.

PS: Even if the Indians and Indonesians were to hold exercises specifically aimed at countering potential Chinese threats, would that necessarily be a response to an American mantra? The Indians and the Chinese don't need the US to tell them what's over their near horizon. It's entirely possible that the Indians and Indonesians could act on their own initiative.

[Ray]

Making friends

Strengthening a network of alliances around China is the other pillar of the strategy. "We will emphasise our existing alliances, which provide a vital foundation for Asia-Pacific security. We will also expand our networks of co-operation with emerging partners throughout the Asia-Pacific region."

Already the US has close defence relationships with South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia. It is working to build ties with Vietnam, Indonesia and is "investing in a long-term strategic partnership with India".

What all this amounts to is a very robust message of deterrence to China. The US will contest any challenge to its dominance. It will cement core alliances with China's neighbours and protect its interest in East Asia.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16446401

[Ray]

Sustaining US Global Leadership

Project Power Despite Anti-Access/Area Denial Challenges. In order to credibly deter potential adversaries and to prevent them from achieving their objectives, the United States must maintain its ability to project power in areas in which our access and freedom to operate are challenged. In these areas, sophisticated adversaries will use asymmetric capabilities, to include electronic and cyber warfare, ballistic and cruise missiles, advanced air defenses, mining, and other methods, to complicate our operational calculus. States such as China and Iran will continue to pursue asymmetric means to counter our power projection capabilities, while the proliferation of sophisticated weapons and technology will extend to non-state actors as well. Accordingly, the U.S. military will invest as required to ensure its ability to operate effectively in anti-access and area denial (A2/AD) environments........

Provide a Stabilizing Presence. U.S. forces will conduct a sustainable pace of presence operations abroad, including rotational deployments and bilateral and multilateral training exercises. These activities reinforce deterrence, help to build the capacity and competence of U.S., allied, and partner forces for internal and external defense, strengthen alliance cohesion, and increase U.S. influence. A reduction in resources will require innovative and creative solutions to maintain our support for allied and partner interoperability and building partner capacity. However, with reduced resources, thoughtful choices will need to be made regarding the location and frequency of these operations......

Over the past ten years, the United States and its coalition allies and partners have learned hard lessons and applied new operational approaches in the counter terrorism, counterinsurgency, and security force assistance arenas, most often operating in uncontested sea and air environments. Accordingly, similar work needs to be done to ensure the United States, its allies, and partners are capable of operating in A2/AD, cyber, and other contested operating environments. To that end, the Department will both encourage a culture of change and be prudent with its ““seed corn,”” balancing reductions necessitated by resource pressures with the imperative to sustain key streams of innovation that may provide significant long-term payoffs.

http://www.defense.gov/news/Defense_...c_Guidance.pdf

[Ray]

China's official defence spending to rise by 11.2% in 2012

China's official defence spending will rise by 11.2% in 2012, pushing it above $100bn (£65bn) for the first time, the government has announced.

Beijing's defence budget has risen each year for two decades to become the world's second-biggest, behind the US.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-17249476

[KingJaja]

China's official defence spending will rise by 11.2% in 2012, pushing it above $100bn (£65bn) for the first time, the government has announced.

Beijing's defence budget has risen each year for two decades to become the world's second-biggest, behind the US.

They can afford to increase their budget without borrowing money .

[davidbfpo]

A platoon level exercise involving infantry is hardly awesome. In fact IIRC there is a post on a similar level exercise between India and PRC, in China - now that was significant politically given their history of hostility.

Indonesia has had little international military co-operation for a long time, the only exception I am aware of is limited military engagement with Australia; there has been significant Australian Federal Police engagement with Indonesia for many years.

Not sure whether Indonesia contributes or has contributed to UN missions either, although I recollect a presence in Cambodia many years ago. Ah, just checked they currently have just under 2k committed (police & military) and mainly with UNIFIL.

If this tiny step develops, especially with naval exercises then I'd be impressed.

[Bill Moore]

Indonesia participates in a number of regional military exercises, and has participated in multinational Naval exercises with India. Indonesia is a nation to watch as it is an up and coming regional economic power that is making significant investments in modernizing its military (long overdue). As the world's largest Muslim majority nation its potential to be major regional actor in the next few years if their economy continues to expand has implications because it can demonstrate that a Muslim nation can succeed economically without huge reserves of oil (though Indonesia is an oil producing nation) and democratic government. In addition to their peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon they sent sent observers to the disputed Thailand-Cambodia border region. I believe they sent peace keepers to Sudan also. I don't think they're part of the multinational counter piracy task force off Somalia, but their Navy did resolve an incident there last year.

[Dayuhan]

Ray, how do any of these quotes and links suggest that a small infantry exercise focused on insurgency is related to "containing China", or that any South/Southeast Asian military cooperation is caused by a US policy position?

Of course SE Asian nations, and India, are keeping a wary eye on China's military emergence. That's not because the US tells them to, it's because they're neighbors and naturally concerned. Not necessarily fearful, yet, but concerned. That does not mean, of course, that this specific exercise had anything to do with "containing China"... the nature of the exercise suggests that it didn't.

It's fairly obvious that countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam or the Philippines cannot compete with China in the acquisition or deployment of conventional military forces. That doesn't mean they have no options. I'd think they'd be well advised to look closely at the asymmetric naval model employed by the Iranians: focus on small, fast, missile-equipped patrol boats and land-based missiles. They wouldn't be able to defeat the Chinese, just as the Iranians can't defeat the US navy, but they could pose enough of a threat to commerce and to the straits of Malacca that to provide a real disincentive to conflict.