A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Washington urges Beijing to halt its sustained military pressure on Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taipei. That statement came on Wednesday, August 12, as a reply to Taiwan’s Central News Agency’s (CNA) questions regarding a joint Chinese-Indonesian naval exercise in the waters east of Taiwan.

Chinese authorities said that its People’s Liberation Army Navy Honghe missile frigate and the Indonesian Navy’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai missile frigate conducted a joint exercise in waters east of Taiwan on the morning of August 12. The drill covered maritime communications, formation maneuvers, at-sea replenishment, and a farewell ceremony.

However, the Indonesian Navy stated that the I Gusti Ngurah Rai was on its way back to Indonesia after concluding an exercise in Vladivostok, Russia. The vessel conducted passing exercises, which the Indonesian Navy said are not inherently of a combat nature, with countries along its return route.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in reply to a CNA reporter’s questions that the United States urges Beijing to halt its sustained military pressure on Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taipei. They added that the U.S. calls on other countries to encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues, rather than amplify Beijing’s destabilizing narrative.

Washington-based think tank Global Taiwan Institute Deputy Director John Dotson said in an interview that concerns over Chinese provocative behavior and the possibility of a military crisis in the Taiwan Strait created an increasingly close quasi-alliance between Japan and the Philippines. He added that Beijing is pushing back against this and is attempting to court its own regional partners, while using the situation as a pretext to expand its naval presence in waters east of Taiwan. Dotson said that the Chinese-Indonesian exercise is a small step, but carries strong symbolic significance.