Jakarta ¨C Indonesia¡¯s Foreign Ministry warned the Defense Ministry in an early-April letter that an American proposal to give its military ¡°blanket¡± permission to fly over Indonesian territory risked entangling Jakarta in potential South China Sea conflicts, sources said.
While the two nations agreed on a defense cooperation partnership ?in a meeting Monday, a Pentagon statement that followed it made no reference to overflights, although two Indonesian sources said the ?U.S. proposal ?had previously been slated to be signed there.
The foreign ministry¡¯s letter ¡ª which has not been previously reported ¡ª was ?marked as urgent and confidential. It was delivered ahead of the meeting between Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin and his U.S. counterpart, Pete Hegseth, in Washington, the two Indonesian sources said.
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