By Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia said on Monday it does not recognise China’s claims over the South China Sea, despite signing a maritime development deal with Beijing, as some analysts warned the pact risked compromising its sovereign rights.
Beijing has long clashed with Southeast Asian neighbours 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.
Joint agreements with China in the strategic waterway have been sensitive for years, with some nations wary of deals they fear could be interpreted as legitimising Beijing’s vast claims.
In 2016, an arbitral tribunal said the Chinese claim, based on its old maps, has no basis in international law, a decision China refuses to recognise.
A joint statement issued at the weekend during Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to Beijing mentioned the two countries had “reached important common understanding on joint development in areas of overlapping claims”.
NO LEGAL BASIS
Indonesia’s foreign ministry has repeatedly said the country is a non-claimant state in the South China Sea and has no overlapping jurisdiction with China.
On Monday, the ministry said its position was unchanged and the agreement would have no impact on its sovereign rights.
“Indonesia reiterates its position that those (Chinese) claims have no international legal basis,” it said.
“The partnership does not impact sovereignty, sovereign rights or Indonesia’s jurisdiction in the North Natuna Sea.”
China’s foreign ministry said the clause “clarifies the political consensus and direction of co-operation between the two sides on joint development in the overlapping maritime areas claimed by the two countries.”
A ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said Indonesia and China would further explore topics such as the content and mode of co-operation, adding there was a historical basis for China’s South China Sea claims and that consensus would benefit both.
China’s U-shaped line, based on its old maps, begins off central Vietnam and runs into waters off Indonesia’s Natuna islands, more than 1,000 km (620 miles) south of the island of Hainan.
It crosses into the EEZs of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and is patrolled by an armada of the Chinese coast guard, which neighbours accuse of aggression and seeking to disrupt energy and fisheries activity.
China typically says its vessels are preventing incursions into its territory.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry said the economic agreement on maritime issues with China covered fisheries and fish conservation, and hoped it would be a model to safeguard peace and friendship.
Some Indonesian analysts, however, said signing such an agreement could have repercussions and be interpreted as a change in stance.
“If we refer to the official joint statement, that means we recognise overlapping claims,” said maritime analyst Aristyo Rizka Darmawan, adding it could compromise Indonesia’s sovereign rights to exploit resources in its EEZ.
Indonesia might have signed the agreement with the intention of boosting economic ties, he added.
Klaus Heinrich Raditio, a lecturer in Chinese politics, said Indonesia never had overlapping claims to begin with and the clause’s inclusion in the statement was “inappropriate”.
“This joint statement puts our national interests at risk,” he said, adding that it could still be renegotiated.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Additional reporting by Liz Lee and Ethan Wang in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Clarence Fernandez)
