Opinion | Why Indonesia won’t let Beijing forget the Philippines’ South China Sea arbitration win

Jakarta has filed a diplomatic protest against Beijing’s extensive maritime claims, citing a 2016 tribunal ruling that found in favour of the Philippines

But does this really mark a departure for the Southeast Asian nation and its approach to the South China Sea dispute?

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo, second right, pictured in January on the deck of an Indonesian Navy ship in the Natuna Islands, which overlap with Beijing’s expansive South China Sea claims. Photo: A

Published: 7:00am, 2 Jun 2020Updated: 7:00am, 2 Jun 2020

Indonesia’s low-key diplomatic protest at the United Nations against China’s disputed claims in the South China Sea last week made some analysts sit up and take notice, with one even describing the move as groundbreaking.

The “note verbale” – an unsigned but officially marked diplomatic communication issued in the third person that carries less weight than a formal diplomatic note – invoked the 2016 ruling by a tribunal established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that overwhelmingly rejected Beijing’s “nine-dash line” claim to almost all of the contested waterway and found in favour of the Philippines instead.

Addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the note sent on May 26 said China’s wide-ranging claim “implying historic rights” in the South China Sea “clearly lacks international legal basis”, adding that Indonesia “is not bound by any claims made in contravention to international law”.

This is not the first time Indonesia, which is not a claimant state in the South China Sea dispute, has stated its position – but this time the wording seemed stronger. Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative in Washington, said it marked “the first time that any of the Philippines’ Southeast Asian neighbours has stood up and explicitly endorsed its arbitration win against China”, according to an interview he gave to regional online news portal BernarNews. Philippine news portal ABS-CBN, meanwhile, ran an analysis piece that described the note verbale as a “diplomatic bombshell”.

A Chinese coastguard vessel is seen from an Indonesian Navy ship during a patrol north of the Natuna Islands in January. Photo: Reuters

But does this really mark an overhaul of Indonesia’s traditionally reserved South China Sea policy? There are least three reasons to think not.