Several fleets, including those of the United States, Britain, China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea, began a multilateral naval drill with Indonesia on Monday as tensions rose in the Asia-Pacific.
To “strengthen relationships between the navies” of 36 countries, Indonesia’s military stated in a statement that the routine Komodo drills were a “non-war” exercise.
As part of their increased military diplomacy in the area, China and the United States have been holding more regular war simulations with friends and partners around Taiwan, as well as in the South China Sea and the western Pacific’s major waterways.
The maneuvers come after a “unsafe interaction” between Chinese and U.S. naval vessels over the weekend in the Taiwan Strait.
The Indonesian military said on Monday that fifteen ships, including those from China and Russia, had anchored off Sulawesi island in preparation for the start of the Komodo maneuvers.
The destroyer Zhanjiang and the frigate Xuchang, both of which are armed with guided missiles, were dispatched by the Chinese navy to participate in the practice, according to Chinese official media CCTV on Monday.
Since the initial Komodo drills in 2014, Indonesia has hosted a total of four such cooperative naval exercises.
