Indonesia rejected US request to host spy planes

JAKARTA: Indonesia rejected this year a proposal by the United States to allow its P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance planes to land and refuel there, according to four senior Indonesian officials familiar with the matter.

U.S. officials made multiple “high-level” approaches in July and August to Indonesia’s defence and foreign ministers before Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, rebuffed the request, the officials said. The P-8 plays a central role in keeping an eye on China’s military activity in the South China Sea.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Sri Lanka and the Maldives this month, officials of both Indian Ocean nations said on Tuesday, as Washington seeks to counter China’s growing influence in the region. Pompeo will hold two-way talks in Colombo on Oct. 28, a spokesman for Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said.

China said it has “taken note” of India’s announcement that Australia will join the annual Malabar naval exercises along with the US and Japan, underlining that military cooperation should be “conducive” to regional peace and stability.

India on Monday announced that Australia will join the upcoming Malabar exercise which effectively means that all the four-member countries of the ‘Quad’ or Quadrilateral coalition will be participating in the mega drill.