This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, looks to upgrade its military and replace its aging hardware, earmarking $8.89 billion this year for defense, the biggest allocation in its state budget

JAKARTA, Indonesia – United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed the importance of modernizing Indonesia’s military in a meeting with its defense chief, as Washington shores up ties in Southeast Asia amid geopolitical rivalry with China.…

This data comes from the ChinaPulse.com media intelligence and smart news insights monitoring platform.