As Jakarta deepens military and coastguard cooperation while rejecting Beijing's sweeping claims, can it maintain a precarious equilibrium? Indonesia is walking a fine line between bolstering ties with Beijing and preserving its long-standing non-aligned stance.

Tensions have prevailed over aggressive Chinese assertions in the waters. Beijing's claims overlap with exclusive economic zones of several countries in the region, including Indonesia.

The two countries on Thursday held a 10th round of talks under a bilateral consultation mechanism set up to address issues in the South China Sea, where disputes have been frequent and tense, with ties at their lowest point in years.

The protest stems from the presence of two coast guard vessels on Jan. 5 and Jan. 10 in and around the disputed Scarborough shoal, one of which was a 165 m (541ft) long boat referred to by the Philippines as "the monster".