Members of the Indonesian military deployed to Papua. (JG Photo/Dhana Kencana)
Indonesia’s military (TNI) is concerned that a rebalancing of power
in the Asia-Pacific is driving an arms race in the region and that
increasingly touchy territorial disputes could trigger conflict, the
armed forces chief said.
In an interview with Reuters, military commander Moeldoko did not
single out China for criticism, but his comments are the latest from
regional officials that suggest there are growing fears over China’s
assertiveness and military modernization.
“We are definitely worried because there is a trend happening in the
region right now and that is an arms race, between ASEAN [the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries themselves and between
major powers,” he said late on Wednesday.
According to IHS Jane’s, a defense publisher, the Asia-Pacific region
is the only part of the world to see military spending grow steadily
since 2008.
China is believed to have more than quadrupled its military spending
since 2000 and by 2015 is expected to be outspending Britain, France and
Germany combined. Even with Chinese spending stripped out, the rest of
the Asia-Pacific region is seen overtaking the whole of Western Europe
by the same date.
Moeldoko said it was important that what he called a rebalancing of
power in Asia as well as efforts by the United States to step up its
military presence in the region did not create “provocations.”
He also said the Indonesian military was constantly assessing the
risk to the country’s oil- and gas-rich Natuna Islands close to an area
of the South China Sea claimed by Beijing but insisted that Jakarta
remained neutral in the conflicting claims over sovereignty in the
region.
“We always need to evaluate the forces that are deployed in and
around the Natuna region. We have to consider any spillover that emerges
which we will have to deal with,” he said.
The Natuna Islands lie close to China’s so-called nine-dash-line,
which Beijing uses on its official maps to display its claim to 90
percent of the South China Sea. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia,
Brunei and Taiwan also claim parts of the potentially resource rich
waters.
Indonesia has long played a neutral role and sought to mediate in the
disputes, although it has openly criticized China’s hard-nosed approach
for inflaming regional tension.
China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Wednesday saying
Beijing had no dispute with Jakarta over the Natuna Islands in response
to some reports that a row might be brewing.
Crystal clear
That was a view backed by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
“It must be made crystal clear that between Indonesia and China there
are no outstanding or overlapping maritime territorial disputes,” he
told Reuters on Thursday.
However, Indonesia has been asking for clarification through the
United Nations since 2010 of the legal basis for China’s nine-dash line,
a set of dashes on Chinese maps that stretch deep into the heart of
maritime Southeast Asia.
Natalegawa said Indonesia had “inferred” from China that the line did not cross Indonesian territory.
The 56-year-old Moeldoko, named armed forces chief last August, went to Beijing in February for talks with China’s military.
“We’re not focused particularly on China’s developments but we see
there is a dispute in that region. And from that dispute we should
anticipate or look at the future prospects in the region, and that is a
part of our calculations.
“I explained [to my Chinese counterpart] that we are a sovereign
country, we will protect our territory, and we will do whatever is
necessary to protect our sovereignty. They understand that,” he said.
