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Indonesia
This Week in AsiaExplained

Explainer | Indonesia’s land and maritime border disputes with Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam

  • Foreign minister Retno Marsudi says Indonesia will increase efforts to accelerate the demarcation of both land and sea boundaries
  • Boundary disputes must be resolved using international law, she says, echoing a stance Jakarta has taken on the South China Sea

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo aboard a navy ship visits a military base in the Natuna Islands in January 2020. Photo: Handout
Resty Woro Yuniarin Jakarta
When Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi announced her ministry’s targets for this year, she said the country would intensify negotiations to resolve border disputes with nations including Malaysia and the Philippines.
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Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, has decades-long land and maritime boundary disagreements with its neighbours.

Retno, who also highlighted her ministry’s achievements from last year, said boundary disputes needed to be resolved using international law. This is a stance Southeast Asia’s largest economy, and founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has also taken towards the South China Sea dispute.
A map of the South China Sea showing China’s nine-dash line and Indonesia’s Natuna Islands. Image: SCMP
A map of the South China Sea showing China’s nine-dash line and Indonesia’s Natuna Islands. Image: SCMP
Indonesia views itself as a non-claimant state in the dispute that Beijing, Taipei and four Southeast Asian states have over the resource-rich waters. However, an area between peninsula Malaysia to the west and the island of Borneo to the east that Indonesia claims as part of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) does fall within Beijing’s nine-dash line. Fishing vessels from both China and Vietnam frequently visit the waters around Indonesia’s Natuna islands.

Retno said 17 rounds of negotiations were conducted with the Philippines, Malaysia, Palau, and Vietnam last year.

“It is interesting to note that the total number of negotiation rounds conducted in pandemic times has [more than] doubled from 2020, [when there were] only seven rounds,” she said.

“In 2022, efforts to accelerate land boundaries demarcation and maritime boundary delimitation will be intensified,” she added, referring to the marking or describing of boundary limits.

What are Indonesia’s border negotiation targets this year?

In 2022, Indonesia will focus on four maritime boundary issues it has with neighbouring countries, Retno said.

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