Indonesia Pulls All Officials from South China Sea Ruling Conference
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- Indonesia's government pulled all scheduled representatives from the July 13 Conference Commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of the South China Sea Arbitration Award in Jakarta, including a Ministry of Foreign Affairs director general and Indonesian National Armed Forces officers who had previously confirmed attendance and keynote slots.
- The conference, organized by Philippines-based FACTS Asia with Indonesian think tanks, marked a decade since the Permanent Court of Arbitration's July 12, 2016 ruling that found China's nine-dash line claim had no legal basis under UNCLOS and that Beijing had violated Philippine sovereign rights.
- Fourteen countries issued a joint statement reaffirming the award remains legally binding between China and the Philippines, and the European Union called it a 'landmark contribution' to peaceful dispute settlement — both dismissed by Beijing, which maintains the ruling is 'null and void.'
- Indonesia has privately relied on the same ruling to defend its own waters, submitting a 2020 diplomatic note to the UN explicitly invoking the arbitral award to reject China's historical rights claims near the Natuna Islands as inconsistent with international law.
- Between 2017 and 2021, Chinese coast guard vessels and the survey ship Haiyang Dizhi Shihao repeatedly entered Indonesia's Exclusive Economic Zone near the North Natuna Sea, disrupting offshore energy exploration at the Tuna Block.
- Weeks before the conference, state news agency Antara published an opinion piece arguing Indonesia should not host the event, warning it could undermine Jakarta's 'free and active' foreign policy and create the impression of siding with the Philippines.
Why it matters: Indonesia's absence carries concrete diplomatic costs: Jakarta has already cited the very ruling the conference was celebrating to protect its own EEZ near the Natuna Islands, and the optics of every official speaker withdrawing after confirming attendance risk signaling deference to Beijing at a moment when ASEAN Code of Conduct negotiations for the South China Sea require Indonesia to project principled leadership, not neutrality-by-silence.
