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Indonesia claims ‘no change’ to South China Sea stance
A joint statement following President Prabowo’s meeting with Xi Jinping threatens to upend Jakarta’s neutral stance by suggesting the two countries “reached an important common understanding on joint development in areas of overlapping claims”.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and President Prabowo Subianto attend a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2024. (AFP/Florence Lo)
A
n agreement to pursue maritime cooperation with China does not constitute a recognition of its sweeping claims over the South China Sea, Indonesia said on Monday, amid a furor over a joint statement that experts fear may negate one of its long-standing foreign policy positions.
For decades, China has sought to use its “nine-dash line”, a territorial claim based on old maps, to justify its efforts to control the sea, one of the world’s busiest waterways, through which over US$3 trillion in trade passes every year.
China continues to do so in defiance of a 2016 international arbitration ruling that found Beijing’s claims baseless under international law.
As an ostensibly non-claimant state, Indonesia has led regional efforts to maintain peace with China by upholding international norms and maritime law consistent with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
However, a statement issued on Saturday following President Prabowo Subianto’s meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping threatens to upend Jakarta’s stance by claiming both sides “reached an important common understanding on joint development in areas of overlapping claims”.
Since then, international law experts have voiced concern that the act legitimizes China’s claim of overlapping jurisdiction with Indonesia.
