Indonesia, Japan enhance maritime security to further Free and Open Indo-Pacific

January 18, 2025

305 2 minute read

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, left, and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto inspect an honor guard at the presidential palace in Bogor, West Java, in January 2025. IMAGE CREDIT: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Agence France-Presse

Japan will give Indonesia two high-speed patrol boats as Tokyo seeks to boost regional maritime security cooperation in the face of territorial disputes with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba made the pledge during a mid-January 2025 visit to Jakarta for talks with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. “We agreed on establishing working-level defense consultations on our maritime security, including on defense equipment technical cooperation,” Ishiba said, according to a statement. “We also agreed to … provide high-speed patrol boats through Official Security Assistance, which would be our first with Indonesia.”

He said the countries also agreed to cooperate in decarbonized energy sectors, such as geothermal power, hydrogen, ammonia and biofuels.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto meet at Indonesia’s presidential palace in Bogor in January 2025. “Regarding bilateral relations, we agreed to launch consultations between defense officials on maritime security, including defense equipment and technical cooperation in the security field,” Ishiba said.
VIDEO CREDIT: REUTERS

Before arriving in Jakarta, Ishiba held talks in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, describing strengthening ties with Southeast Asia as “one of the biggest priorities” for Japan.

He said the trip to Indonesia and Malaysia made him aware of the “explosive growth of the two countries” and reaffirmed his view that Japan must further engage with Southeast Asian nations.

Japan has been deepening security ties in the region, with encouragement from its longtime ally, the United States. Tokyo already provides equipment and other assistance to the Philippines, which also is engaged in territorial disputes with the PRC. Manila recently ratified a key defense pact with Tokyo that allows the nations to deploy troops on each other’s soil for exercises and humanitarian missions.

Ishiba noted that “Japan and the U.S. working together toward the peace and stability of this region will contribute significantly to the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region and the whole world.”

The PRC claims almost all of the South China Sea despite an international tribunal’s 2016 ruling that the claims have no legal basis. Beijing has ignored the ruling and continues its illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive tactics to push its sweeping sovereignty claims.

Huge untapped oil and gas deposits are believed to lie under the South China Sea, which also is a vital conduit for global commerce. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S.-based think tank, estimates that about one-third of global shipping, or $3.4 trillion worth of goods, passes through the sea annually.

In December 2024, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya expressed “serious concerns” to his PRC counterpart over Beijing’s increasing military activity, and also cited worries over the “East China Sea situation, including around the Senkaku Islands,” a chain of Japan-controlled uninhabited islands claimed by Beijing.

Tokyo has condemned persistent territorial incursions by Chinese vessels around the Senkakus.