As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton nears the end of her 10-day Asia Pacific tour, Indonesia is increasingly being viewed as key to resolving mounting tensions in the South China Sea.
Indonesia is the fastest growing economy in Asia after China and the largest economy in Southeast Asia. The nation has been proactive in encouraging members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum to formulate a code of conduct to resolve territorial and maritime disputes.
“Absent a code of conduct, absent a diplomatic process, we can be certain of more incidents and more tension for our region,” said Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa in meetings with Clinton in Indonesia last week. “So it is a win-win and relationship—it is not only right that ASEAN must be united, but it is also the smart thing to do.”
Vikram Nehru, senior associate in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says Indonesia is well positioned to drive the agenda, seen by other Asian nations as independent, “an honest broker” and without a vested interest.
“It has no skin in the game itself, no advantage other than a peaceful solution,” he said.
An archipelago of over 15,000 islands and unconnected to the mainland of South East Asia, Indonesia is totally reliant on shipping for trade.
Overseeing the world’s fourth largest population, its leaders main concern is to maintain stability in the waterways and the region. They would like to reach agreements on a variety of regional issues such as sea piracy, freedom of navigation, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness.
“These are things in which it wants to see greater cooperation, but tensions in the South China Sea are getting in the way of that,” Nehru said.
Code of Conduct
China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei, and the Philippines have long-term competing territorial claims to parts of the South China Sea. These have been aggravated by a rising China, which has become increasingly assertive in claiming ownership of the entire seaway.
Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, is home to the secretariat for ASEAN, the regional forum tasked with developing a code of conduct that would provide guidelines on resolving competing claims.
ASEAN members have continually failed to reach agreement on the issue, this year falling short of releasing the traditional joint communiqué at the close of its annual meetings for the first time in its 45-year history. The failure was largely seen as a result of pressure from nonmember China, which wants to negotiate territorial disputes in the South China Sea with member states bilaterally.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Natalegawa has pursued the issue, proposing his own six-point plan that would start with easing tensions before moving to discussions on dispute-resolution strategies.
“It is important to underscore, ASEAN unity is not meant to be at the expense of any other party,” he said at the meeting with Clinton. “It is not about us rallying around to counter or to put any other country on the spot or to put them in a corner.”
Clinton met with the Indonesian leadership and the ASEAN secretariat on her way to China, before going to East Timor and then Brunei, her last stop before Vladivostok for the APEC leaders meeting this weekend.
“We believe the nations of the region should work collaboratively together to resolve disputes without coercion, without intimidation, without threats, and certainly without the use of force,” she told the ASEAN secretariat.
Clinton’s visit to East Timor coincided with its 10th anniversary of gaining independence from occupier, Indonesia, after many years of brutal fighting. At that time, military rule was dominant in Indonesia, but current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been instrumental in introducing civilian rule and more democratic governance.
Speaking alongside Timorese President Xanana Gusmao, Clinton said she was encouraged to see the progress in the tiny democracy of just over 1 million. She noted that 60 percent of the population was under the age of 25 and announced $6.5 million scholarship program for Timorese students to study in the United States.
In Brunei, Clinton will be the first secretary of state to ever visit the tiny sultanate. With a population of less than half a million, and rich in oil and gas, Brunei is the world’s fifth wealthiest country with one of the world’s highest standards of living.
Brunei will host next year’s ASEAN forum and the East Asia Summit.
In a background briefing, a senior U.S. official described Brunei, along with Malaysia and Singapore, as important in supporting an ASEAN solution to South China Sea territorial disputes, but added, “The leading state in the effort is clearly Indonesia.”
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