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Indonesia joins neighbors in protesting Beijing’s claims in South China Sea

Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post)
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Jakarta
Mon, June 1, 2020

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Indonesia joins neighbors in protesting Beijing’s claims in South China Sea Indonesian Navy and Coast Guard vessels sail through Natuna waters off Riau Islands. (Antara/-)

I

ndonesia has rejected China's sweeping claims in the South China Sea, following in the footsteps of its Southeast Asian neighbors, which have lodged similar concerns with the United Nations.

In a letter sent to the UN secretary-general last week, Indonesia reiterated its long-standing position that it was not party to any territorial disputes in the South China Sea, while maintaining that China’s historic claim to the sea “clearly lacks international legal basis".

Indonesia is the only nonclaimant state in Southeast Asia that sent such a letter of protest, although its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the North Natuna Sea is located adjacent to the highly disputed waters.

Jakarta said such a letter, however, was not unprecedented, because similar exchanges of views also happened in 2009 and 2010 at the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), after Vietnam and Malaysia submitted a joint request for an extension of the continental shelf in 2009.

“Indonesia was only reiterating the position that China already knows. There are no new elements [in Indonesia’s position],” the Foreign Ministry’s director general for legal affairs and international treaties, Damos Agusman, told The Jakarta Post on Friday. 

“But [Indonesia’s position] needs to be registered with the UN, because China also conveyed its position over its [territorial] claims -- which indicated [that it also has] claims to Indonesia's exclusive economic zone [EEZ]. This is purely a matter [of] procedural propriety."

Indonesia is not a claimant in the South China Sea territorial disputes and has rejected Chinese efforts to bring Indonesia to the negotiation table regarding potential overlap with Indonesia's EEZ in the North Natuna Sea.

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