In an unprecedented move, Indonesia has invited maritime security officials from five south-east Asian (ASEAN) nations to frame a joint strategy against China's aggression in the South China Sea (SCS).
Jakarta has invited neighbours–Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, for a face-to-face meeting in February 2022 to “share experiences and foster brotherhood” among countries facing territorial impositions by China in the SCS, reports Benar News.
The head of the Maritime Security Agency, also called Bakamla, Vice Admiral Aan Kurnia, told Indonesian journalists that he had invited his counterparts from the five countries for discussions. The Jakarta Post quoted Aan as saying that it is important “to present a coordinated approach” in matters related to the SCS and “how to respond in the field when we face the same ‘disturbance’. He did not mention China by name.
Welcoming the Indonesian initiative, Thomas Daniel, a senior fellow at Malaysia’s Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) said: "I think what the Indonesians are proposing is very interesting and bold. At least they are trying something".
The six countries had earlier met at the ASEAN Coast Guard Forum in October.
The coast guards of the ASEAN countries have looked upon each other with suspicion keeping tabs on each other instead of confronting their bigger neighbour. The south-east Asian nations have not been able to build a comprehensive response to China's so-called "nine-dash line" claims, partly to protect their interests, partly due to differences and also because of fear of retaliation from the communist regime.
Cambodia, for example, has refrained from opposing Beijing due to its proximity.
Indonesia, at least till now, has insisted that it is not a party to the SCS disputes, but Beijing recently asked it to stop exploring for oil and gas in its own Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) around the Natuna islands.
Over the past decade China has laid claim to the entire SCS, its various reefs and uninhabited islands, along with the waters lying inside the EEZ of the ASEAN nations. It has even disagreed with United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) and observations made by tribunals against its usurpation of the islands in the SCS.
China has used its military might to push back its smaller neighbours from exploring for oil, conducting fishing activities and has used its huge fleet of maritime militia to harass boats of other countries.
In November Beijing used water cannons to push back Filipino civilian boats from taking food to their soldiers on an island under its sovereignty. China claims the island belongs to it.
China has been sending its fleets of dredgers close to Taiwanese shores to suck up sand, destabilising Taiwanese shoreline and harming its ecology. Beijing uses the sand to strengthen the islands and rocky outcrops in the SCS and deploy men and arms.
It has sent its vessels in Vietnamese waters to stop Hanoi from exploring for resources in its own EEZ besides ramming its vessels into Vietnamese fishing boats in early 2020.
In the middle of this year, Chinese 16 air force planes violated Malaysia's air space forcing the foreign ministry to summon the Chinese ambassador.
China has even picked up the gauntlet thrown by US and European navies in the SCS by conducting more naval drills. It has even sent communication ships to spy on Australia-US military exercises in a sign of assertion and defiance.
The Diplomat says with Indonesia’s call to other ASEAN nations, it seems that the 10-member bloc is finally realising the gravity of the Chinese threat to their resources and sovereignty.
