Indonesia rejected this year a proposal by the United States to allow its P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance planes to land and refuel there, according to four senior Indonesian officials familiar with the matter.
U.S. officials made multiple "high-level" approaches in July and August to Indonesia's defense and foreign ministers before Indonesia's president, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, rebuffed the request, the officials said.
Representatives for Indonesia's president and defense minister, the U.S. State Department press office and the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta did not respond to requests for comment. Representatives for the U.S. Department of Defense and Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi declined to comment.