Indonesia plans to step up talks with China and other Southeast Asian countries to finalize a code of conduct (COC) for the disputed South China Sea, its foreign minister said on Saturday, amid escalating tensions in the strategic waterway.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi was speaking in Jakarta at the end of a meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a ten-member regional bloc chaired by Indonesia this year. “ASEAN’s outlook on the Indo-Pacific was central to the discussion,” she said. “We also discussed the COC, the commitment of members to conclude negotiations on the COC as soon as possible.”
Negotiations on the COC – a proposed framework to help resolve territorial and maritime disputes in the waterway – have stalled for years as some member states prioritized bilateral relations with China over regional consensus.
Indonesia is preparing to hold a round of COC negotiations this year, with the first to take place in March, the foreign minister said. China claims jurisdiction over nearly the entire South China Sea based on its U-shaped “nine-dash line,” a boundary that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague found in 2016 to have no legal basis.
Earlier this week, the Philippines granted the United States greater access to its military bases, in part because of Beijing’s sweeping claims in the resource-rich maritime region. ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims with China on the strategic waterway.
Indonesia is not an official claimant but faces rejection from China over exploration for oil and gas reserves in the Natuna North Sea. Last month, the country sent a warship to the area to monitor a lingering Chinese coast guard vessel.
“New approaches” would be explored by all ASEAN member states and Chinese counterparts to make progress on the COC, Sidharto R. Suryodipuro, director of ASEAN cooperation at Indonesia’s foreign ministry, said on the sidelines of the event. “The important thing is that everyone agrees that this should be an outlook that is feasible and consistent with international law,” he said.
Separately, ASEAN members ended the talks, only reiterating support for the bloc’s five-point peace plan for Myanmar, which includes ending the conflict in the conflict-torn country and opening dialogue.
