the original VOA Mandarin article<\/a>.<\/p>\nU.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth proposed a new defense cooperation framework with Southeast Asian nations Wednesday, as Indonesia conducts counterterrorism training with China while also maintaining its security partnership with the United States.<\/p>\n
Speaking to ASEAN defense ministers in Cebu, Philippines, Hegseth called for closer maritime cooperation and stronger regional militaries capable of defending their sovereignty.<\/p>\n
\u201cSerious partners train together, learn together, plan together, and build the confidence and competence necessary to prevent conflict,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His remarks came a day after Chinese and Indonesian troops opened their \u201cSharp Knife 2026\u201d joint army training in Guangzhou, according to China\u2019s Defense Ministry. The exercise is scheduled to continue through early November.<\/p>\n
Hegseth described Washington\u2019s approach as \u201cstrong, quiet and clear\u201d\u2014intended to deter coercion and aggression while avoiding unnecessary escalation.<\/p>\n
He said the United States is willing to work with Southeast Asian countries based on their circumstances, priorities and shared interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re not going to agree on everything, nor do we need to,\u201d he said. \u201cBut an agreement on the fundamentals is enough to support practical cooperation where our shared interests are overlapping and are clear, and that’s the type of cooperation the Department of War will continue to pursue with our ASEAN partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
China-Indonesia training<\/p>\n
For Indonesia, military engagement with both powers reflects an effort to maintain balanced relationships, said Lin Ying-yu, a scholar of international affairs and strategic studies at Taiwan\u2019s Tamkang University.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndonesia hopes to use counterterrorism or nontraditional security issues to strengthen cooperation with China,\u201d Lin told VOA.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Defense Ministry said troops participating in the exercise were organized into mixed formations for specialized training, tactical coordination and comprehensive drills. Activities include reconnaissance, communications, unmanned systems, sniping and counterterrorism training. Beijing described the exercise as a scheduled military exchange intended to improve combat-oriented training and bilateral cooperation.<\/p>\n
Indonesia-US ties<\/p>\n
Jakarta also has expanded its longstanding defense relationship with Washington.<\/p>\n
In April, Hegseth and Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin announced a Major Defense Cooperation Partnership. The countries agreed to explore advanced asymmetric capabilities involving maritime, undersea and autonomous systems, alongside expanded special forces training and efforts to improve readiness.<\/p>\n
In response to VOA\u2019s questions about the China-Indonesia training, a State Department spokesman said defense and security cooperation with Indonesia is a core pillar of the countries\u2019 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndonesia and the United States share a vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, including a commitment to freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina should not exploit military cooperation with Indonesia to advance Beijing\u2019s ambitions to dominate Southeast Asia politically, militarily, and economically,\u201d the spokesman added.<\/p>\n
Hegseth\u2019s Wednesday proposal would extend cooperation at the regional level. Citing the 50th anniversary of formal U.S.-ASEAN relations next year, he proposed developing \u201ca practical framework that guides our cooperation over the next several years.\u201d<\/p>\n
He identified maritime domain awareness, military interoperability and cooperation among navies as priorities, and said Washington was ready to begin work with Singapore as it assumes the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus chairmanship.<\/p>\n
International Afair Scholar Lin said Beijing, meanwhile, values Indonesia\u2019s regional influence and could seek closer ties to counter the Philippines amid persistent South China Sea confrontations. China\u2019s stated purpose for the training is counterterrorism cooperation.<\/p>\n
The ASEAN gathering concluded Thursday amid renewed friction between Beijing and Manila. China accused an unnamed Philippine politician of obstructing its participation, while Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said Beijing had been invited and given an opportunity to present its views. China was represented by a military attach\u00e9 rather than its defense minister, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
China-Indonesia military contacts also have drawn scrutiny in Taiwan. In August, Beijing announced naval exercises with Indonesia east of Taiwan, prompting Taipei\u2019s condemnation. Indonesia described the activity as routine passing exercises rather than war-fighting drills.<\/p>\n
VOA has requested comment from both the Pentagon and the State Department on the China-Indonesia training but has not heard back yet.<\/p>\n
VOA also requested comment from the Pentagon on the China-Indonesia training but has not heard back yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Washington \u2014\u00a0 Editor’s note: this story was translated from the original VOA Mandarin article. U.S. Secretary of War…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24,376821],"class_list":["post-899231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-voa-mandarin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}