Indonesia calls for US-China to ‘restrain themselves’, lashes US ‘power projection’ after Spratly sail-by
Indonesian government recalls Afghanistan and Iraq wars to show power projections have deadly results in a surprising turn from the South China Sea contest
The Indonesian government expressed disapproval Wednesday over a “power projection” exercise conducted by the United States which saw a Navy destroyer enter what Beijing claims to be its territorial waters around artificial islands in the South China Sea.
“We disagree, we don't like any power projection,” Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan told a small group of reporters.
“Have you ever heard of power projection solving problems? In Afghanistan? In Iraq? The United States has spent trillions of dollars in Afghanistan and Iraq. What are the results? Hundreds of thousands of people were killed. And now, violence continues to happen in Iraq,” he added.
Pandjaitan made the statement a day after the USS Lassen, based in Yokosuka, Japan, sailed near the Spratly islands, escalating tension between the United States and China.
The U.S. warship's patrol within 12 nautical miles (about 22 kilometres) of Subi Reef in the archipelago represents the U.S. government's strongest action in recent years to challenge China's continued pursuit of territorial claims in one of the world's most important shipping lanes.