Taiwan Condemns China-Indonesia Naval Drills Off The Island’s East Coast

Taiwan condemned China for planning naval drills with an Indonesian warship off the Island’s east coast, stating that through this move, Beijing claims waters which are not a part of its territory.

China claims control over democratically governed Taiwan and calls its leaders separatists. In June, its coast guard began patrols off the east coast, which angered Taipei and also concerned the U.S and other Western countries.

China’s Defence Ministry said that the drill, which would take place in August, would be ‘a navigation drill’, with an Indonesian navy vessel, a very unusual move since China does not hold naval exercises with other countries, especially near Taiwan.

The Indonesian Navy said that its vessel I Gusti Ngurah Rai would be a part of the exercise after it returns from Russia and that the exercise would not involve any ‘war fighting’.

This was a “universal naval tradition conducted when transiting through another country’s maritime area”, Indonesian navy spokesperson Tunggul said.

Taiwan’s China-policymaking Mainland Affairs Council has said that the exercise is a military provocation and must be stopped immediately since it undermines the status quo.

The Council said that China is now conducting naval exercises with other countries in waters east of the Island, calling them just ‘routine law-enforcement patrols.’

“This is, in reality, political manipulation, ‘exercises in name, expansion in fact’, aimed at creating a false impression before the international community that the Chinese communists have jurisdiction over waters east of Taiwan,” it added.

Wu Tien-jen, assistant deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence, said that the exercise does not impact Taiwan directly but it has a geopolitical significance.

He said that if China invited foreign countries’ vessels to its territory for naval exercises, that is entirely normal and reasonable; however, by doing so in Taiwanese waters, it wants to show the international community that the waters are a part of its territory.

China’s announcement came after US Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby met Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin at his Jakarta office on Aug 11, 2026.

Like other nations, Indonesia has no ties with Taiwan, but the island is home to over 300,000 Indonesian workers.

Taiwan’s government says that only Taiwanese people can decide their future and denounces Chinese claims as false.