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November 14, 2024 | 11:55 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto stressed that he would "always safeguard our sovereignty" when asked about the issue of the South China Sea. He also said after the meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on November 13, that partnerships are better than conflicts and that "we respect all powers", as reported by Reuters.
Prabowo's comments came after his foreign ministry stressed that Indonesia does not recognize China's claims over the South China Sea despite signing a maritime deal with Beijing last weekend.
Beijing has long clashed with Southeast Asian nations over the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety, based on a "nine-dash line" on its maps that cuts into the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of several countries.
“We respect all powers, but we will always safeguard our sovereignty. But I choose to always find possibilities of a partnership,” said Prabowo, who has repeatedly said he will pursue a non-aligned foreign policy.
“Partnerships are better than conflicts,” he told reporters.
Prabowo, who is on his first trip since taking office last month, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on the weekend. A maritime development deal signed by China and Indonesia said they had reached a common understanding "on joint development in areas of overlapping claims."
According to VOA reports, the White House specifically commented on Biden's stance regarding this deal in his meeting with Prabowo. “We continue to encourage Indonesia to work with their legal experts to make sure any agreement they make with the PRC [People's Republic of China] is in accordance with international law, especially the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Beijing claims the major shipping route almost entirely, infringing into the EEZs of Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines. All but Indonesia formally dispute the Chinese claim while Taiwan makes a claim to the sea similar to Beijing's.
“It's a big deal for Indonesia as a non-claimant country in the South China Sea dispute that supports the concept of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Klaus Heinrich Raditio, author on South China Sea issues and lecturer at Indonesia's Driyarkara School of Philosophy. “People will question our position,” he told VOA.
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry clarified on Sunday that it remains firm in rejecting China's nine-dash line.
Beijing's claim, the ministry said, “does not comply” with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and “therefore has no bearing” on Indonesia's sovereignty and jurisdiction over the North Natuna Sea.
According to the joint statement, the deal with Beijing highlights a "new phase of building the China-Indonesia community with a shared future."
VOA reported that there was no clarity on whether the content of the agreement was an intentional signaling of a geopolitical shift or merely an overlook from a new administration eager to bolster ties with great powers. The Indonesian Embassy in Washington has not responded to the media’s queries.
“Most likely, it is a bureaucratic mistake,” Raditio said. “We put too much attention on economic cooperation. How many investments we can attract from China? We kind of sideline other important issues.”
Savero Ariestia Wienanto contributed to the writing of this article.
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