Top Stories

Chinese maritime law fuels cooperation between Indonesia, Japan

Felix Kim

Indonesia and Japan are stepping up defense cooperation in the face of a new maritime police law enacted by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Cooperation will include the transfer of fisheries surveillance vessels from Japan to Indonesia, ongoing port calls in both countries and meetings between high-ranking military officers. The announcements by Indonesian and Japanese defense officials came following bilateral meetings in Tokyo in late March 2021.

The PRC’s maritime police law runs afoul of international law, according to Raul Pedrozo, professor of international law at the U.S. Navy War College. It was enacted in January 2021 purportedly to regulate China’s maritime police agencies, including its coast guard, to protect the PRC’s “sovereignty, security, rights and interests,” Pedrozo wrote in a February 2021 essay for the college’s International Law Studies journal. The maritime law violates international law, however, because it claims “to assert jurisdiction over foreign flagged vessels in disputed areas or on the high seas,” he added.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said he told his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto, that the maritime law “should not [be allowed to] undermine the legitimate interests of the countries concerned.” At a March 28, 2021, news conference, Kishi said that he and Prabowo agreed “to send a message to the international community that we will strongly oppose any act that raises the issue.” (Pictured: Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, left, and Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi attend a March 28, 2021, news conference in Tokyo.)

The ministers signed the Defense Equipment and Technology Transfer Agreement on March 30, according to Japan’s Ministry of Defense.

“This will ensure proper management of the defense equipment and technology to be transferred, and it is expected that the strengthening of closer defense equipment and technical cooperation between the two countries will contribute to security,” Kishi told reporters April 2.

Japan is expected to transfer eight 3,900-ton, Mogami-class multimission frigates to Indonesia, reported The Diplomat, an online news magazine. It will deliver four of the frigates starting in late 2023 and early 2024. A shipyard in Surabaya, Indonesia, is expected to produce the additional four vessels in cooperation with Japan.

Chinese fishing boats continue to make repeated incursions into Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, frequently accompanied by Chinese coast guard patrol vessels, reported The Jakarta Post newspaper, adding that Indonesia has made strenuous efforts to combat illicit fishing in its waters.

Kishi said that his meeting with Prabowo included in-depth discussions on regional tensions in the East and South China seas. “The Ministry of Defense and the Self-Defense Forces would like to promote further defense cooperation and exchanges with Indonesia, which is a strategic partner who shares basic values ​​such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law,” he said.

 

IMAGE CREDIT: JAPAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE

 

Felix Kim is a FORUM contributor reporting from Seoul, South Korea.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button