U.S. And Indonesia Announce New Defense Partnership

From "US-Indonesia sign key defence pact, Washington eyes Strait of Malacca": 

The US and Indonesia signed a Major Defence Cooperation Partnership Monday, after multiple media reports over the weekend indicated that Jakarta has granted blanket overflight access for American military aircraft. Such access would give the US greater ability to keep an eye on the Strait of Malacca, another global chokepoint for trade.    

The agreement is perhaps not as significant as this article makes it appear, since it is mostly one encouraging cooperation through joint exercises and training. The overflight access is currently being negotiated, but if approved, would probably be more significant, allowing the U.S. to better monitor shipping through the Malacca strait--particularly traffic to and from China. 

    For some background on the significance of the Malacca Strait to China, here are a few articles:

• "The Malacca Trap: Why China Can’t Solve Its Greatest Strategic Vulnerability"--Medium. 
• "Malacca: The Strait That Could Strangle China’s Future"--Murray Hunter. 
• "The Malacca Dilemma: China’s Achilles’ Heel"--Modern Diplomacy.