Flashpoints | Diplomacy | East Asia | Southeast Asia

Indonesia Is the Latest Country to Validate China’s Claim to Taiwan – Unwittingly or Not

From Indonesia to Africa and Oceania, China is enlisting foreign countries to support its increasingly strict interpretation of the One China principle.

On the morning of August 12, China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and an Indonesian Navy warship conducted a joint navigation exercise in the waters east of Taiwan. It was the first time China had exercised with a foreign military in these geopolitically sensitive waters.

The announcement a day earlier had drawn a swift rebuke from Taiwan’s authorities, which called the exercise an act of political manipulation, “aimed at creating a false impression before the international community that the Chinese communists have jurisdiction over waters east of Taiwan.” The United States similarly called on China “to cease its continuous military pressure against Taiwan.”

Chinese state media indeed framed the exercises as evidence of its jurisdiction over the area. The Global Times, a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party, quoted Chinese military affairs expert Zhang Junshe describing the exercise as being of “great significance,” both because it was the first of its kind and because it demonstrated “China’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the exclusive economic zone east of Taiwan island.”

The exercise came at a moment when Beijing has increased its operational presence in the waters east of Taiwan in an effort to assert its jurisdiction. After Japan and the Philippines agreed to start delimitation talks over their exclusive economic zones (EEZs), which overlap to the east of Taiwan, China sent Coast Guard and law enforcement vessels to patrol the disputed waters in early June. Although the PLAN has regularly held exercises in these waters, it marked the first time the Coast Guard patrolled the region independently. 

The Coast Guard presence, accompanied by law enforcement and research vessels, were framed as a routine expression of Beijing’s sovereignty over the area. Although initially a special operation, it has now become semi-permanent. And now China is roping in third countries to corroborate its jurisdiction, with state media making this link directly.

In turn, Indonesia’s Navy downplayed the significance of the exercise. Indonesian media reported that the navy confirmed a “limited joint training or passing exercises” with the PLAN on its way back from a joint exercise with Russia in Vladivostok. It added that the vessel in question also conducted similar exercises with Japan’s navy and the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet. 

The press statement seemed to deliberately sidestep the question of jurisdiction, instead referring to Indonesia’s “free and active” foreign policy and the “universal naval tradition conducted when transiting through another country’s maritime area.” A later statement dropped the “country” reference, simply stating “a maritime area” instead. 

It’s difficult to assess whether Indonesia was aware beforehand of the sensitivity of these drills. While Beijing emphasized the significance of the exercises, Jakarta called them routine.

The incident is more evidence of a recent trend where China enlists foreign countries to support its increasingly strict interpretation of the One China principle. The old playbook of China and Taiwan’s diplomatic competition focused on Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic allies and participation in international organizations: Since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the Presidency in 2016, Taiwan has seen the number of diplomatic allies dwindle from 23 to 12. Despite those restrictions,........

© The Diplomat