For At Least a Moment, Indonesia Comes Off the Sidelines

[Valin]

Via Meadia:

Mar. 21 2016

 

Is Indonesia rethinking its neutral stance in the South China Sea? Reuters:

 

Indonesia “feels sabotaged” in its efforts to maintain peace in the disputed South China Sea and may bring its latest maritime altercation with China to an international court, a minister said on Monday.

 

Indonesia is not embroiled in rival claims with China over the South China Sea and has instead seen itself as an “honest broker” in disputes between China and the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

 

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Despite the warnings, this isn’t a major shift in Jakarta’s South China Sea policy. Still, Indonesia’s rhetoric toward Beijing is usually much less assertive.

 

Over the past few months, we’ve seen lots of activity in the South China Sea in response to China’s continued development of islands in the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos. Malaysia and Australia have both begun criticizing Beijing publicly, and are discussing ways they can work on protecting freedom of navigation together. The Philippines, which has already taken Beijing to court over maritime disputes, reached an agreement with the U.S. last week to allow American troops at five of its bases. China criticized the deal over the weekend, suggesting that Washington and Manila were militarizing the region themselves:

 

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