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Govt to formulate official stance on South China Sea dispute
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Security talks – Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan (second right) talks with Cabinet ministers during a limited Cabinet meeting on security and human rights, led by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (right) at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Jan. 5. (thejakartapost.com/Wienda Parwitasari)
T
he government will draw up an outline of Indonesia’s stance on South China Sea disputes in anticipation of the upcoming verdict of a Philippines-China arbitration court hearing looking at the dispute, a senior minister has said.
“President [Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo] has urged us to formulate our stance on the South China Sea so that all state officials have the same answers [in response to queries on the disputes],” said Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan after meeting with Jokowi at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday.
The minister further said all related ministries were set to hold a meeting to formulate the government’s stance, which could be hopefully be completed on Tuesday.
“There will be a meeting tomorrow. I hope we can finalize our stance in the meeting because we already have the draft,” Luhut said.
ASEAN is scheduled to conduct a special meeting with China from June 13 to 14 ahead of the upcoming verdict on the South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague.
Earlier, the Foreign Ministry's ASEAN dialog partner and inter-regional cooperation director Derry Aman said as a non-claimant country, Indonesia had continued to stress the importance of all parties involved in the dispute to restrain themselves and maintain peace and security in the region.
Indonesia, he continued, had also continued to push for the full and effective implementation of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), which included an ongoing draft code of conduct. (ebf)
