Opinion | It’s time for Southeast Asia to stand together against China – with Indonesia leading the way
- Ankit Panda writes that it’s not too late for Indonesia to lead Southeast Asia back toward institutionalised solutions as talks continue toward an Asean-China code of conduct for the South China Sea.
For the final weeks of 2019 and into the new year, China and Indonesia have been facing off over the sovereignty of waters around Jakarta’s Riau Islands, in the South China Sea.
Jakarta’s exclusive economic zone, a 200-nautical-mile zone within its afforded special rights to exploit marine resources, overlaps with China’s capacious nine-dash line claim, under which Beijing asserts rights over nearly 90 per cent of the critical waterway.
That means the core of the ongoing dispute between the two countries boils down to resource exploitation rights within a section of the South China Sea northeast of the Natuna Islands.
While Indonesia’s claim is founded in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – a convention both Beijing and Jakarta have signed and ratified – the Chinese claim dates back to questionable territorial assertions first made in the latter part of the first half of the 20th century.
Indonesia is not the Philippines – especially in the realm of material capabilities that it can bring to bear in pushing back on China – but it still stands to gain from asserting its rights under international law
Tripling down on its alienation of Indonesia amounts to a massive strategic miscalculation by China, ultimately. Instead of building a bridge to Jakarta at a time when the United States appears adrift in Asia, China is alienating what could otherwise be an important partner.
