JAKARTA, June 22 (Reuters) - Indonesia has changed where it will host ASEAN's first-ever joint military exercise to a location away from the South China Sea where several countries including China have overlapping territorial claims, its military said on Thursday.
The non-combat drills for members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were originally set to take place in the southernmost waters of the South China Sea, which are also claimed by Beijing.
But the September 18-25 exercise will now be moved out of the strategic waterway altogether to the South Natuna Sea in Indonesian waters, said military spokesperson Julius Widjojono.
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, a conduit for about $3.5 trillion of annual ship-borne trade.
China claims sovereignty over the area via an expansive 'nine-dash line' based on its historic maps, which an international arbitration court in 2016 ruled had no legal basis.
Persons:
ASEAN's, Julius Widjojono, Stanley Widianto, Kanupriya Kapoor
Organizations:
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, Beijing, Myanmar's, Thomson
Locations:
JAKARTA, Indonesia, South China, China, Beijing, Batam, Malacca Strait, United States, Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar