TEMPO.CO, Tokyo – President Joko Widodo has said that the Chinese claims to the majority of the South China Sea have “no legal foundation in international law,” according to a Reuters report as quoted by Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper on Monday, March 23, 2015.
Jokowi made the comments in an interview published Sunday prior to his visits to Japan and China this week—marking his first stance on the South China Sea strife since he took office in October last year.
Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia, has been a self-appointed broker in the myriad territorial disputes between its neighbors and China over the South China Sea.
“We need peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. It is important to have political and security stability to build up our economic growth,” he said.
“So we support the Code of Conduct (of the South China Sea) and also dialogue between China and Japan, China and ASEAN.”
Jokowi also confirmed that he and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whom he meets later on Monday, would sign a defense cooperation agreement that would cover “how to work with” Japan’s military, and “search and rescue operations, humanitarian assistance, and cyber defense.”
Japan has already bolstered partnerships with the Philippines and Vietnam, the two countries most at odds with China over territorial rows in the South China Sea. Japan itself is embroiled in a bitter dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, further to the north.
The president also said he hoped to discuss maritime ties with Japan’s coast guard “because Japan has good experience to manage its waters.”
Jokowi is slated to visit China immediately after his stop in Japan. Indonesia and China have a more developed military relationship and Jakarta has bought Chinese-made missiles and other military hardware.
REUTERS|YON DEMA
