In Indonesia, Beijing’s South China Sea presence seen as ‘threat’ to national interests, survey shows

The views in the poll conducted by the Indonesia Strategic and Defence Studies (ISDS) align with those of the country’s top military and diplomatic officials expressed during a seminar on Tuesday about sovereignty in the South China Sea.

The survey’s results, released on Tuesday, found that more than 73 per cent of respondents perceived China’s presence in the South China Sea as a threat to Indonesia.

Indonesia is not a claimant in the South China Sea but its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the North Natuna Sea falls within China’s so-called nine-dash line, which Beijing uses to claim around 90 per cent of the disputed waters.

Skirmishes have flared up in the disputed waters a number of times in recent years, including in December 2022, when China sent Coast Guard 5901, the world’s largest coastguard vessel, to patrol the North Natuna Sea.

“In 2023, China again unilaterally issued a new map, adding one-dash line [to its standard map], so its 10-dash lines claim the entire South China Sea region. In some parts, the dotted lines overlap with our EEZ in the North Natuna Sea,” Hadi Tjahjanto, Indonesia’s minister for political, legal and security affairs, said on Tuesday during the seminar held in conjunction with the release of the ISDS survey results.

“This caused strong protests from all countries, including Indonesia. We object because the map does not comply with the 1982 UNCLOS,” he added, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which regulates all uses of the ocean and its resources as well as disputes among signatory nations.

“Instability in the South China Sea will have a global impact and become … a threat to our national interests.”

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