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fter last year’s jitters over Australia’s decision to allow the United States to use Darwin as a base for the US Marines, Indonesia is due to question another similar move by its neighbor.

This time, the issue at hand is the possibility that Australia may allow the US to use Cocos Islands, located less than 3,000 kilometers southwest of Jakarta, as a base for its spy planes.

Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Hartind Asrin said on Wednesday that in order to prevent any misunderstanding, Australia and the US should clearly explain the aim of the planned base.

“In principle, we [Indonesia] did not have the authority to be involved in their [Australia and the US’] plan, but we aim to ask them about their intention to place spy drones near our territory,” he said.

He said efforts to clarify the issue would be based on maintaining trust and confidence between Australia and the US.

“It is in our best interests to avoid any miscalculation or misunderstanding in the field,” he said.

As reported by Reuters on Wednesday, Australia Defense Minister Stephen Smith said the possible use of Australia’s remote Cocos Islands had been raised with the United States, but the proposal was not under active consideration and was not among any current plans by Canberra to strengthen military ties with Washington.

“We view Cocos as being potentially a long-term strategic location. But that is further down the track,” Smith said as quoted by Reuters.

The Washington Post said the US was interested in using Cocos Islands as a new base for its surveillance aircraft, to conduct spy flights over the disputed South China Sea (Spratly Islands), a territory claimed by China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan.

According to the Post, Cocos Islands could be ideal for not only manned US surveillance aircraft but for Global Hawks — unarmed, high-altitude surveillance drones. The US Navy is developing a newer version of the Global Hawk, known as the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance drone, or BAMS, that is scheduled to become operational in 2015.

The Indonesian Defense Ministry, however, brushed aside immediate concerns that the spy aircraft would be a threat to the country’s defense.

“If we spot one and it has no permit, our fighter jets will intercept it,” he said.

Chairman of the House of Representatives’ defense, intelligence and foreign affairs commission, Mahfudz Siddiq, said if Australia decided to allow the US to use the islands, it should at least notify Indonesia.

“If, eventually, there’s an impact upon us, Australia should sufficiently explain the issue, although I understand it’s their territorial affair. But, it will render suspicions on our part since the location is near our border.”

Indonesia’s military has been cautious about Australia since November last year when it forged a deal with the United States to use Darwin, located less than 1,000 kilometers from Indonesia’s eastern territory, as a US military base that would gradually accommodate more than 2,500 marines.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Tene could not comment on the issue. He did, however, insist that Indonesia maintained good relations with both Australia and the US.

University of Indonesia (UI) security expert Andi Widjajanto said it had been a plan by the US for some time to strengthen its influence in Asia Pacific by establishing bases in Guam, Darwin and Singapore.

“Inevitably, our territory will be penetrated as the US drones are relatively hard to detect, and they have non-stop surveillance capability,” he said. Andi added that the US also had a legal advantage if it trespassed Indonesia’s territory, as it had not ratified the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which could enable the US to take advantage of Indonesia’s territorial gray areas, such as the Natuna Archipelago, located near the disputed Spratly Islands.