Indonesia has kicked off multilateral naval drills in its waters near Sulawesi island.

Thirty-six countries including the US, Japan and China are participating in the Komodo exercise, as Washington and Beijing try to bolster their presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

At the opening ceremony on Monday, Admiral Yudo Margono, Indonesia's top military commander, emphasized that the exercise aims to strengthen cooperation in disaster response and humanitarian assistance.

Forty-eight warships are taking part, including a Chinese destroyer and frigate.

The joint exercise comes as China and the US have been staging more frequent war games for scenarios such as Taiwan and the South China Sea.

It also follows a weekend incident in the Taiwan Strait, in which the US military says a Chinese warship cut sharply across the path of an American destroyer, forcing it to slow to avoid a collision.

Indonesia's military is ramping up its diplomatic efforts in a bid to maintain regional stability and security. This year's Komodo exercise is the fourth, having last been held in 2018, and will continue through Thursday.