The Indonesia-US joint statement, issued after the two leaders’ long-awaited meeting, comes just days after Prabowo concluded a trip to China, where another joint statement was published that raised eyebrows among local and regional diplomatic circles over fears that Indonesia had unwittingly legitimized China’s sweeping claims to the contested waters.

According to that statement with China, both sides had reached a “consensus” on jointly developing areas of “overlapping claims”.

The Foreign Ministry later responded that Indonesia’s position on the issue of the South China Sea remains unchanged.

China has sought to assert dominance in the South China Sea for decades, using a flimsy argument based on old maps that an international court ruled as invalid in 2016.

However, Prabowo and Biden stated that the ruling by the arbitral tribunal was constituted pursuant to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a key treaty that underpins maritime security and governance in contested waters.

“Both leaders underscored their unwavering support for upholding freedom of navigation and overflight, as well as respect for sovereign rights and jurisdiction of coastal states over their exclusive economic zones in accordance with international law of the sea, as reflected in [UNCLOS],” read the joint statement issued on the White House website.

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