Natuna, Riau Islands, Aug. 17 -- A top brass of the Joint Regional Defense Command (Kogabwilhan) I has reaffirmed his personnel's capability and readiness to defend Indonesia's sovereignty in Natuna, a strategic outermost region near the contested South China Sea.

"As a front-line region, Natuna holds a strategic position, and we are fully prepared to defend our homeland here," Kogabwilhan I Commander Lt. Gen. Kunto Arief Wibowo said in Natuna District, Riau Islands, on Sunday.

Speaking after a symbolic 20-by-10-meter Red and White flag was unfurled along Piwang Beach in Bunguran Timur Subdistrict, he reiterated Natuna's importance for the safeguard of Indonesia's northern borders.

The flag unfurling event was held as part of the 80th ...