In all the anger over rival claims to the South China Sea, Indonesia has
emerged as a voice of calm, working to mediate a dispute involving China,
Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Malaysia.
Chinese patrols in waters that
Vietnam and the Philippines also claim have heightened tensions in the
mineral-rich South China Sea.
Vietnamese protestors condemn
what they call a Chinese invasion over Beijing's decision to take bids for oil
blocks off Vietnam's coast. Hanoi has passed a law claiming sovereignty over
disputed islands.
The division is so deep it
blocked a unified statement from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for
the first time in the group's history.
"The relationships between
China and ASEAN countries are multidimensional. They should not be spoiled by
the South China Sea issue," said ASEAN spokesman Danny Lee.
Into these troubled waters comes
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, working to keep ASEAN from
splitting.
"ASEAN continues to remain
to be united, to be cohesive on all issues of common concern, not least, and
especially on the issue of South China Sea," Natalegawa said.
From Phnom Penh to Manila to
Bangkok to Hanoi, Natalegwa is pushing a regional framework to resolve the
rival maritime claims.
"We do actually need a Code
of Conduct for the South China Sea, some kind of rule of the road type of
regime so that potential for conflicts in the region can be managed and, even
more, betters the potential for conflict can (to) be resolved," Natalegawa
said.
As Southeast Asia's biggest
country, Indonesia's neutrality is helping cool some tempers.
"They really are sort of at
the fulcrum of this, trying to remain in the center, wherever the center may
be. I imagine that will continue going forward. Their status has really risen
as a result of their diplomacy," said Justin Logan, who directs foreign
policy studies at the U.S. Cato Institute.
Logan says Indonesian mediation
is especially important as China opens a military garrison on an island Vietnam
and Taiwan claim.
"And I do think that they
(Indonesians) have remained sort of the anchor in the center as other countries
have more or less drifted away from that center," Logan said.
Senior U.S. officials say
Indonesia has been instrumental not only in keeping open prospects for talks
over the South China Sea but also in encouraging Burma's military to enact
political and economic reforms that helped to bring opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi to parliament.
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