Exclusive: Indonesia rejected U.S. request to host spy planes - officials

FILE PHOTO: A Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft from the U.S. Navy flies during an international aerial and naval military exhibition commemorating the centennial of the Spanish Naval Aviation, over a beach near the naval airbase in Rota, southern Spain, September 16, 2017. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo/File Photo

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia rejected this year a proposal by the United States to allow its P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance planes to land and refuel there, according to four senior Indonesian officials familiar with the matter.

U.S. officials made multiple "high-level" approaches in July and August to Indonesia's defence and foreign ministers before Indonesia's president, Joko Widodo, rebuffed the request, the officials said.