Overview
- The two governments announced the Major Defense Cooperation Partnership at the Pentagon on Monday, setting a framework built on modernization, training and exercises.
- A confidential letter from Indonesia's foreign ministry, reported Tuesday by Reuters, warned that granting blanket U.S. overflight permission could pull Jakarta into regional conflicts and strain ties with China.
- The foreign ministry said Wednesday that the U.S. overflight proposal is still being considered internally and that Indonesia has no policy allowing unrestricted access to its airspace.
- Indonesia's defense ministry says the circulated overflight paper is only a draft and not legally binding, and U.S. and Indonesian statements on the new partnership did not include any overflight commitments.
- Any broad air-access deal could expand U.S. monitoring of the Strait of Malacca, a key oil route, while Indonesia maintains a non‑aligned stance that stresses sovereignty and balanced ties with major powers.