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Map showing China's nine-dash line and Indonesia's territorial waters around the Natuna Islands. Photo: New York Times.
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After being a neutral actor for decades in the complex South China Sea (SCS) territorial disputes, Indonesia has seen itself compelled by China’s assertiveness to become firmer about protecting its territorial sovereignty around the Natuna Islands (NI). Jakarta is alarmed by China’s claims that it has undeniable historical fishing rights in the NI...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... 2000, p. 190) In the last two decades, disputes in the South China Sea (SCS) have grown both in number and intensity despite the different relevant state actors communicating extensively to mitigate them. At the core of the disputes are maritime claims that primarily pit China (and Taiwan) against the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and, to a lesser extent, Indonesia (Figure 1). China has been physically changing the SCS realities and producing an increasingly assertive discourse to legitimize and render indisputably right their territorial claims and silence those put forward by the rest of the claimants. ...
Citations
... Thus, Indonesia needs to prepare an integrated defense posture that is active defensive in nature to be able to anticipate various possibilities for regional conflicts in the future, especially defense to deal with threats at sea and in the air. 5] In the geostrategic aspect, Indonesia's strategic cross position between two continents and two oceans as well as its geographical position as an international shipping lane has various potential vulnerabilities and threats which are expected to continue to occur in the future. In addition to traditional threats originating from conflicts between major powers in the region, Indonesia's territory is very vulnerable to non-traditional threats including violations of the boundaries of the Indonesian state by state and non-state actors, the entry of illegal immigrants, and the rise of various transnational crime activities such as narcotics, illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing and human smuggling through Indonesian territory. ...
Developments in the strategic environment can create both opportunities and threats for Indonesia which must be addressed with a national defense system that is able to take advantage of Indonesia's opportunities and advantages to maximize the achievement of Indonesia's strategic interests and counteract all threats to Indonesia's national security arising from the dynamics of developments in the strategic environment. This study aims to analyze the potential for conflict as a result of developments in the strategic environment. This research was conducted with a qualitative descriptive approach. The results of the study indicate that the potential for open conflict escalation in the region is very likely to arise if a misperception or incident occurs at the locus of dispute. The biggest possibility of an open conflict is a battle in maritime theater that occurs in the South China Sea and East China Sea between the US and its allied countries in the Indo-Pacific region and China, or between China and one or more countries that have territorial disputes with China. . Indonesia's geographical position which is at the crossroads of the Pacific and Indian Oceans as well as the continents of Asia and Australia makes Indonesia very vulnerable to spill impacts arising from all conflicts that occur in the Indo-Pacific region.
... Neighboring states continue to challenge Indonesia's claim over the North Natuna Seas. With China's growing assertiveness in the South China Seas and the use of alternative maritime forces to solidify its nine-dash line claims, policymakers in Indonesia have started to mobilize additional resources and attention to counter aggressions in the disputed waters Putra and Cangara 2022;Pattiradjawane and Soebagjo 2015;Meyer et al. 2019). Nevertheless, China is not the only country where Indonesia faces tensions within the North Natuna Sea. ...
The rising tensions in disputed waters in Southeast Asia have caused policymakers to diverge their maritime diplomatic strategy to include maritime constabulary forces. The use of coastguards and other non-military vessels are an emerging trend in the maritime diplomatic strategy of Southeast Asian states, including in the high-profile case of the North Natuna Seas, to which scholars pay little attention. This article contends that (1) contemporary maritime diplomacy in Southeast Asia positions the utilization of maritime constabulary forces (coastguards, maritime law enforcement agencies) as its primary maritime diplomatic strategy; (2) Vietnam’s coercive turn in its maritime disputed areas was a deliberate attempt to balance a coercive-cooperative stance against Indonesia in the North Natuna Seas, following its traditional coercive maritime diplomatic stance against China, and; (3) Vietnam’s utilization of maritime constabulary forces as a measure to solidify its sovereign claims coincided with the benefits of tactical military flexibility and non-escalatory means to achieve its aims in the Natuna Seas. This empirical explanatory research delves into the development of Vietnam’s coastguards and maritime law enforcement agencies by interpreting the secondary data from the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative between 2021–2022 on cases relating to suspicious maneuvers conducted by the Vietnamese Fisheries Resource Surveillance vessels safeguarding the conduct of Vietnamese IUUF.
... Deep-seabed mining has been discussed with enthusiasm since geologist John Mero attempted to calculate the economic value of PMN deposits in the oceans, publishing his findings in The Mineral Resources of the Sea (Mero 1965;Meyer et al. 2019). An initial swell of excitement was dampened with a fall in commodity prices and the proscription of DSM by UNCLOS in 1982 (Sparenberg 2019;Chin and Hari 2020). ...
The growing importance of cobalt to the US economy has led to its categorisation as a critical mineral. Cobalt demand is increasing due to its requirement in lithium-ion batteries, which will significantly contribute to the energy transition. Supply is threatened for various reasons, primarily regarding supply chain concentrations, with the majority of the world’s cobalt originating in terrestrial deposits in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and being refined in China. There remain environmental and ethical concerns over the present supply chain. Previous discussions around reducing cobalt’s criticality have suggested diversifying processing locations to reduce geographical and jurisdictional reliance where possible. This study assesses the viability of extracting cobalt from polymetallic nodules (PMNs) located on the deep-seabed in the Area, as an alternative strategy to reduce cobalt’s criticality. Assessments are made of the viability of PMN extraction considering ongoing barriers to introduction, contrasted with current arguments supporting PMN extraction. PMN mining offers a more stable and decentralised alternative to current cobalt supply. There exist impediments to its introduction, notably potential environmental impacts, which remain poorly understood. Technical and political restrictions must also be overcome. It is argued that the wider environmental benefits of increased cobalt supply from PMN mining may offset its detrimental environmental impacts. It is suggested that PMN mining be used in a wider strategy to improve supply security of cobalt to US markets.
... Some, such as Kim (2012), briefly quote media reports to provide a sense of public opinion in concerned countries about the activities of Chinese fishermen. Others, such as Meyer et al. (2019), Wijaya and Bensa (2017), Zhai et al. (2018), and Wang and Womack (2019) focus on media coverage of maritime disputes between China and other countries, without focusing primarily on illegal fishing. Nevertheless, such studies do provide interesting insights into how Chinese fishing activities are portrayed by the media. ...
... Nevertheless, such studies do provide interesting insights into how Chinese fishing activities are portrayed by the media. Meyer et al. (2019) show how, from 2013 to 2016, Indonesian media "securitized" Chinese claims of fishing rights in territorial waters near the Natuna Islands, increasingly discussing the islands in terms of national security rather than cultural, political, or economic issues. Wijaya and Bensa (2017) show how certain Indonesian media express more negative sentiment toward China than do others in covering the South China Sea dispute. ...
... For example, Kim (2012) discusses how rising seafood consumption in China and a "long-held tradition of free fishing in Korean waters" drove Chinese illegal fishing in South Korea's EEZ in the 1990s and 2000s, and how illegal fishing was an irritant to increasing economic and sociocultural ties between the two countries in this period. Meyer et al. (2019) place Chinese fishing disputes with Indonesia in the context of warming ties, Indonesia's chairmanship of ASEAN in 2011, and China's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea between 2014 and 2016. They explore the impact of such developments on discourse about China in Indonesian media. ...
This study analyzes how recent fishing disputes involving China and Latin American countries have been reported by local and global media. We conducted content and sentiment analysis of media articles, coding articles according to the sentiment (“positive,” “negative,” or “neutral”) they express toward China and the actions of its fishing fleet, based on the words used to describe the same. We also examined what topics are discussed in different media – issues that are more specific and “local” in nature or broader issues that go beyond specific incidents. According to our findings, Latin American media can be as negative in their reporting on China and Chinese actions as Anglo‐Saxon Western media but tend to focus more on local issues and specific incidents, whereas Anglo‐Saxon Western media are more likely to connect incidents to broader geopolitical issues. Deepening of China‐LAC economic relations have not reduced Latin American media's critical approach toward China. At the same time, the local media remain independent; they do not necessarily reproduce the same frames as global news platforms in their coverage of China. These findings reinforce the idea that LAC broadly does not want to choose sides in the China‐US rivalry.
... However, Indonesia is secretly strengthening its military structure and weaponry and increasing the activities of fishing communities on the border with China. Indonesian people are generally satisfied with how the government is protecting interests in the Natuna sea (Meyer et al., 2019). Some view Indonesia as maintaining good relations with emerging China (Jefferson Ng, 2020). ...
The rise of China's economy and the emergence of the AUKUS Defense Pact was responded to by ASEAN countries with various policies. Indonesia is not included in the claim state; However, Indonesia has strengthened its military power in the region since the increasing security threat in the South China Sea. This study aims to see the reorientation of Indonesia's defense diplomacy in the last decade. The issue of management and defense in border areas is closely related to the fundamental conception of the state as a sovereign, populated, and territorial entity and the interpretation or perception of the threats it faces. The defense of territorial boundaries should be understood as a permanent function, as long as the state exists. Threats that will continue to change and undergo adjustment are threat assessments that affect the number of resources and forces needed. The problem is how these resources and power are managed. Assuming the problem; whether the problem is internal or external, and whether the treatment is defensive or offensive. The study concludes that the reorientation of Indonesia's defense diplomacy has changed from a peaceful settlement with a legal approach to strengthening local economies and military units in border areas in the South China Sea.
... This anti-Chinese sentiment has been exacerbated by what many Indonesians see as Beijing's encroaching economic and political hegemony, as well as territorial sovereignty. A recent study by P. K. Meyer et al. 115 found that in 2016 the Indonesian government explicitly framed China's claims over Natuna Island's territorial waters as a national security threat and expressed its intention to do all it takes to safeguard its maritime rights from China's aggressive incursion.116 This hostility towards China is reflected in a recent report by the Pew Research Centre that finds that the share of Indonesians who hold favourable views of China has declined from 66% in 2014 to 53% in 2018. ...
As a country with multiple ethnicities, religions, and cultures, Indonesia has been suffering from protracted waves of inter-ethnic conflicts among its peoples. This research uses Critical Discourse Analysis (cda) to survey an array of mass and social media outlets, existing policies, and statistics to describe and interpret inter-ethnic relations between Tionghoa (Chinese Indonesians) and Javanese Pribumi (indigenous Indonesian Muslims). It adopts the Weberian three-factor social stratification model to group these relations under three main headings: class, status, and party. The analysis of this research is also enriched by using Geert Hofstede's cultural-dimension theory. This research shows that Indonesia is socially stratified along Tionghoa-Pribumi lines. Importantly, the analysis also exposes that this stratification is not primarily due to economic inequalities as commonly assumed, but rather the result of deep religious and cultural incompatibilities and inadequate policies. Ultimately, Indonesia's social stratification exacerbates the existing social inequality and perpetuates antagonistic Tionghoa-Pribumi relations.
... Indonesia especially considers this issue as a serious encroachment by foreign vessels. Fishing vessels from China are involved in a territorial dispute between the two countries, as they are often found within the EEZ of Indonesia, part of which overlaps with the area within the nine-dash line claimed by China [53]. ...
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is becoming a growing threat to sustainable fisheries and the economy worldwide. To solve this issue, various efforts on monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) have been made at the national, regional, and international levels. However, there is still the lack of measures against IUU fishing vessels at the multilateral level. Here, we assessed the situations of fisheries, and the current systems and challenges of MCS in eight Asia-Pacific countries with a focus on MCS of IUU fishing vessels at sea. Through a literature review and interviews, we confirmed that IUU fishing was linked with the status of fisheries in each country, and that each country implements various MCS measures with different emphases. However, there was a trend of enhancing or newly establishing four areas of MCS: vessel tracking, patrol, onboard observers, and port State measures, with amended or newly adopted laws. We also identified challenges of MCS such as insufficient MCS in coastal areas and fragmented cooperation among the countries. Based on our findings, we advance several recommendations including the enhancement of cooperation among stakeholders, especially fishers, for co-monitoring in coastal areas and the establishment of a communication platform for Asia-Pacific countries.
... In 2013-2014 Natuna was discussed by the central government in Jakarta only in economic, cultural and tourism aspects (Meyer, Nurmandi, & Agustiyara, 2019). The relations between Indonesia and China were considered to be still warm that year and the two countries agreed that the problem in Natuna waters was only the illegal fishing problem. ...
... The security perspective was related to the context of Indonesia's sovereignty and security. President Joko Widodo in 2015 instructed the Head of the National Planning Agency (BAPENAS), Andrinof Chaniago to study the Natuna to be a stronghold of the Indonesian military fortress or in other words make the Natuna the Pearl Harbor of Indonesia (Meyer et al., 2019). ...
... In 2016, the Natuna was fully reviewed by the Indonesian government as a security issue, this can be seen from several indications such as budget allocation for military installations in the region, efforts to increase 5,000-12,000 personnel to serve in the region and protest notes delivered to China. Furthermore, prioritizing incidents in the Natuna waters became a matter of national security (Meyer et al., 2019). ...
This article discusses Indonesia’s orientation in the North Natuna Sea in the constructivism. The article aims to look at the change of Indonesia's orientation towards the positioning of North Natuna waters following China’s claims as the part of its territories. Indonesia’s orientation used to be for economic development activities. However, Indonesia then swifted such orientation to defense and security. The article applied the constructivist theory of Alexander Went. The article applied the qualitative approach whose data collection was through literature study.
... Scholars have used securitization theory to explain various cases of Indonesia's security policy, including the South China Sea disputes (Meyer, Nurmandi, & Agustiyara, 2019), the Aceh insurgency (Geri, 2018;Kurniawan, 2018), the Maluku conflict (Kurniawan, 2018), terrorism (Van Damme, 2008Febrica, 2010), illicit drugs (Widiyono, 2018), migrants and refugees (Zayzda, Ash-Shafikh, & Kusuma, 2019), migrant workers (Arifianto, 2009), as well as online hoaxes (Lee, 2020). However, there is still a lack of literature on public health securitization in Indonesia, which this article seeks to fill the gap. ...
The Indonesian government’s measures to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic can be characterized by late response due to initial de-securitization of the issue, and later securitization that limits its very efficacy in restricting the spread of the pandemic. This article uses securitization theory to analyze the government’s measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses how the government’s increasing reliance on military figures and national security agencies influences the measures used to control the COVID-19 pandemic. This study finds that initially, the government seemed to be trying to de-securitize the issue, denying warnings that the virus might have existed undetected in Indonesia. Then, after the first cases were confirmed in March 2020, the government responded by securitizing the issue. The delay in the government’s response to COVID-19 caused the audience to not fully accept the government’s securitization efforts because public trust in the government’s measures was already low, while the means of emergency action taken by the government against the threat of COVID-19 are also limited. The government has also been overly reliant on influential military figures and national security agencies. The government also tended to downgrade the threats, lack transparency, and even use the pandemic to crack down on anti-government smears. This article concludes that the government needs to change their approach to COVID-19 measures and prioritize the human security dimension by not downgrading the threats and upholding transparency.
... Secara khusus, artikel ini mengulas paper Indonesia's swift securitization of the Natuna Islands how Jakarta countered China's claims in the South China Sea (Kristhope, Nurmandi, & Agustiyara, 2019). Paper ini menggunakan CDA sebagai pendekatan metodelogis dalam menjelaskan pemberitaan media mainstream dan opini publik pada media sosial tentang klaim China terhadap pulau natuna (Natuna Island). ...
... Lalu, selama tahun 2016 mendiskusikan bahwa klaim pemerintah China merupakan ancaman bagi integritas wilayah Indonesia, ini sebagai ancaman penting bagi pertahanan keamanan nasional. Kemudian, paper ini mengungkapkan bahwa opini publik di media sosial seperti facebook dan twitter tentang isu kemanan pulau natuna menunjukkan opini yang menggambarkan bahwa pemerintah Indonesia berhasil mempertahankan kemanan nasional dari klaim pemerintah China (Kristhope et al., 2019). ...
