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Indonesia, Vietnam renew calls to finish EEZ negotiations
The two countries’ leaders agree they must complete negotiations on an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) soon to reduce the possibility of fishing boat incidents and maintain peace at sea.
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ndonesia and Vietnam have renewed calls to finish ongoing negotiations on the delimitation of the maritime boundary between their exclusive economic zones (EEZ) near the South China Sea to provide clarity and avoid incidents in the waters.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo hosted Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at Bogor Palace in West Java on Friday, ahead of the highly anticipated ASEAN leaders meeting on Myanmar over the weekend.
This was the first meeting between the leaders. The Prime Minister assumed office earlier this month.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said President Jokowi stressed the importance of accelerating the EEZ negotiations, which had been ongoing for 11 years.
“The President suggested that the technical teams from the two countries immediately resume the talks and finish the negotiations,” Retno said in a press statement.
Read also: Indonesia, Vietnam speed up EEZ delimitation
An EEZ grants exclusive rights to the country that controls it to exploit resources within the water column. But Indonesia and Vietnam have overlapping claims in the waters north of the Natuna Sea.
The claims have been a source of tension between the Southeast Asian neighbors, resulting in an agreement to negotiate a “provisional arrangement” to prevent skirmishes at sea.
The EEZ delimitation with Vietnam is one of a few active border negotiations that Indonesia is currently engaged in. The two countries previously reached an agreement on a continental shelf boundary in 2003 after 30 years of negotiation.
“The settlement of this negotiation is very important because it would provide clarity about each country’s respective EEZs, thus reducing the possibility of fishing boat incidents. It also emphasizes the importance that claims regarding EEZ boundaries between countries must be resolved based on international law, namely the 1982 UNCLOS,” Retno said.
Indonesia typically cites the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to address disputes over the South China Sea, not only in the overlapping EEZ claims with Vietnam but also in other territorial disputes among nations surrounding the strategic sea.
Indonesia is not a claimant in the South China Sea territorial disputes, where Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines have staked their own claims. China has made sweeping claims over the resource-rich waters despite their great distance from the country’s coastline.
Although its claims were ruled invalid in a 2016 international tribunal, China has continued to build and militarize artificial islands throughout the South China Sea in an effort to enforce its claims. This has caused anxiety among Southeast Asian nations.
Read also: Duterte prepared to deploy navy over South China Sea claim
According to a statement carried by the Vietnamese government-run VGP News portal, the two leaders underlined the necessity of completing the negotiation soon so that they could create a legal framework to enhance cooperation, reduce illegal fishing and maintain peace.
At Friday’s meeting, Jokowi and Pham agreed to maintain ASEAN’s shared position on the South China Sea issue, including on the implementation of the Declaration of Conduct in the South China Sea.
The leaders also agreed to quickly conclude negotiations on an efficient and effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea in line with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS.
They also discussed trade, investment and health cooperation.
