Indonesia has planned to meet up with officials in charge of maritime security from five other ASEAN countries early next year to take action against China’s obstinacy in the South China Sea.
Last October, maritime agencies from the six countries attended an ASEAN Coast Guard Forum, signaling their willingness to work together.
In 2016, an international tribunal dismissed China’s inaccurate claims over the South China Sea, to which neighbouring countries contested. However, Beijing keeps on disturbing every resource expedition in these waters.
China asserts almost the entirety of the South China Sea, including waters within the exclusive economic zones of Taiwan and states of the Southeast Asian Nations association like Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Recently, Jakarta was prohibited from drilling for oil and gas near the Natuna islands inside Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by Beijing. It claims that the block lies within its territory, the nine-dash line, that it exploits to define its extendible proclaims.
