China and Indonesia Hold First-Ever Foreign Joint Naval Drill in Waters East of Taiwan; Taipei Calls It 'Political Manipulation'

China's PLA Navy guided-missile frigate Honghe and Indonesia's frigate KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai conducted a joint navigation exercise in waters east of Taiwan island between roughly 06:30 and 09:30 local time on August 12, 2026, practicing formation sailing, maritime communications, and underway replenishment before a formal 'divergence ceremony.' China's Ministry of National Defense and state media framed the drill — the first-ever joint naval exercise between China and a foreign navy in that EEZ — as demonstrating Beijing's 'sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the exclusive economic zone east of Taiwan island.' Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council condemned the exercise as 'political manipulation,' calling it '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.' Indonesia's navy pushed back on Taipei's characterization, with a spokesperson describing it as a routine 'passing exercise' conducted while the frigate returned home from a port call in Vladivostok, Russia, and 'not related to war fighting.'