The Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN will hold its first-ever joint military exercise in the South China Sea, its chair Indonesia said on Thursday, the latest multilateral security drills at a time of rising tension and uncertainty in the region. The decision was taken at a meeting of military commanders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia, which will host the exercise in the North Natuna Sea, the southernmost waters of the South China Sea. The purpose, Margono said, was strengthening “ASEAN centrality.”ASEAN’s unity has for years been tested by a rivalry between the United States and China that is being played out in the South China Sea. China claims sovereignty via an expansive “nine-dash line” based on its historic maps, which an international arbitration court in 2016 ruled had no legal basis. The Philippines chided China’s coast guard for “dangerous manoeuvres” and “aggressive tactics” and plans to hold joint patrols with the United States, on top of an inaugural trilateral coast guard exercise they held with Japan this week.

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Persons: Admiral Yudo Margono, Margono, Julius Widjojono Organizations: ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Beijing, South China Locations: South China, Indonesia, North, United States, China, ASEAN, Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesian, Asia, Southeast Asia, South, Beijing, India, China’s, Japan