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Ratifying historic maritime boundary agreement in the South China Sea
The House of Representatives' ratification of a 2022 maritime border agreement would confirm Indonesia and Vietnam's refusal of China's nine-dash line claim.
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President Prabowo Subianto (left) and Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary To Lam inspect the guard of honor during a welcoming ceremony on the day of their meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on March 10. (Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
W
e have just witnessed a progressive development regarding borders in the South China Sea. The Commission I of the House of Representatives regrouped for a session to deliberate steps toward the ratification of the Indonesia-Vietnam Maritime Boundary Agreement. The April 23 hearing invited prominent academics to provide their views on the ratification of the agreement, which was signed on Dec. 22, 2022.
It is worth noting that border issues in the South China Sea have been a source of tension for a substantial period. Hence, the success of both nations’ agreement upon a maritime boundary is certainly historic. After 12 years of intensive negotiations, the ASEAN neighbors finally concluded an agreement on their maritime boundaries in the South China Sea.
The agreement of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) deals only with water columns and not the seabed (continental shelf). For Indonesia, this was the first maritime boundary agreement established by the Jokowi administration and the first after Indonesia’s vision of becoming a global maritime fulcrum was coined. Indeed, this is a special agreement.
Between Vietnam and Indonesia, the 2022 agreement is the second after the first was signed in 2003 and ratified in 2007. It took the two countries almost two decades to come up with another agreement after long, intensive negotiations.
The 2003 agreement delimits the seabed between Indonesia and Vietnam, and it took almost 30 years to conclude. The agreement supplemented maritime boundary lines established by Indonesia and Malaysia around the same area in 1969.
Technically, the 2003 agreement connected Indonesia-Malaysia boundary lines, so altogether they enclosed an area of seabed that fell within Indonesia’s jurisdiction. This way, the division of the seabed among Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam in the South China Sea was made crystal clear.
There was no dispute on seabed ownership among the three neighbors. The only issue that remained pending was the division of water columns or exclusive economic zones (EEZ) for which Indonesia and Vietnam started intensive negotiations in 2010. On Dec. 22, 2022, the pending issue was successfully settled. Kudos to Indonesia and Vietnam for settling the dispute through negotiations.
