UI Professor Supports House Of Representatives Supervision On RI-China Cooperation, Encourages Foreign Minister To Call Foreign Minister

JAKARTA - The DPR's attitude in asking the Government to be careful with the joint statement or joint statement from the bilateral meeting of Indonesia-China received support from the International Law Expert, Prof. Hikmahanto Juwana. The DPR's supervisory function has been running to maintain the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia.

"Supervision by the DPR RI needs to be supported in maintaining and caring for the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, both its sovereignty and sovereign rights," said Prof. Hikmahanto, Monday, November 18.

The Professor of the University of Indonesia (UI) also encouraged the DPR to summon Foreign Minister Sugiono after returning from abroad to accompany President Prabowo's visit to a number of countries. Prof. Hikmahanto assessed the summons to ensure that Indonesia did not change policies related to the South China Sea issue (LCS).

"This summons is related to paragraph 9 in the Joint Statement of the President of Indonesia and President Xi Jinping," he explained.

At the 9th point in the joint statement between President Prabowo and Chinese President Xi Jinping, it was stated that the two governments reached an understanding of the joint development of maritime areas which are currently in a situation of overlapping claims.

This point is seen by many as a change in Indonesia's attitude towards the claim of sovereignty in the Chinese territory in the South China Sea regarding the nine-dash line.

For information, the 9-Dash Line is a line made unilaterally by China. Nine Dash Line has become a historical area of 2 million square kilometers of LCS whose 90 percent of its territory is claimed by China as its historical maritime right. As a result of this unilateral claim, a number of countries were involved in conflicts with China such as Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam.

"The DPR also needs to deepen the preparation of paragraph 9 of the Joint Statement so that it is clear what is desired and find out who is the proposer," said Prof Hikmahanto.

According to Prof Hikmahanto, further investigation from the DPR regarding this matter is needed to provide assurance to countries that have interests in the South China Sea.

"That Indonesia has never changed its policy not to recognize the Nine Broken Lines," said the Chancellor of General Achmad Yani University.

Therefore, Prof. Hikmahanto assessed that it was important for the DPR to hold consultations with the Government. In this case, it can go through a meeting with the Foreign Minister.

"That is to ensure that there is cooperation with the Chinese Government in the maritime sector, not related to explicit recognition and implicit claims of nine Chinese Breakup Lines that are not known at UNCLOS," said Prof Hikmahanto.

Previously, a number of parties questioned the contents of the nine-point joint statement between Prabowo and Xi Jinping. This is because until the end of President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) government, Indonesia has a policy not to recognize China's unilateral claims to the 9-Dash Line.

Indonesia does not recognize nine break lines because these claims are not known in the 1982 UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) where Indonesia and China are participant countries. However, with the 9th point of the RI-China joint statement, it can be interpreted that Indonesia recognizes the maritime zone that overlaps with each other or recognizes the 9-Dash Line.

As for the member of Commission I of the DPR RI, TB Hasanuddin said that the cooperation carried out by Indonesia-China this time has the potential to violate the law. This is because Indonesia has ratified UNCLOS as Law Number 17 of 1985 concerning the United Nations Convention on Marine Law (UNCLOS).

"If we carry out cooperation in the fishery economy in the region with parties we consider the claims to be contrary