Kepentingan Indonesia Memprakarsai Code of Conduct (COC) of

Abstract

South China Sea is semi-enclosed waters situated in the south of Continent of Asia. The position of South China Sea connecting Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean provides strategic values and economic values to South China Sea. The strategic values and economic values owned by South China Sea are the reasons of the surrounding countries to have sovereignty over those waters. The countries involved in the claim dispute and becoming the claimant countries are China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei. The claim of the claimant countries is based on a historical basis and the International Convention on the Law of the Sea. The claim dispute gives affects the stability of South China Sea area and gives impacts to Indonesia. Indonesia is not one of the claimant countries, but Indonesia takes part in controlling the situation in South China Sea in order that this does not break into war. The Indonesian action started by holding Workshop on Managing Potential Conflicts in the South China Sea in 1990 which implicitly already initiated the idea of the Code of Conduct. Then, Indonesia confirmed the idea of Code of Conduct by releasing Zero Draft COC in 2012. Indonesia’s action cannot simply be seen as an attempt to control the South China Sea but also be understood as an Indonesia’s attempt to achieve economic and strategic interests for Indonesia itself. Thus, the purpose of this research is to determine the Indonesia’s to initiate the COC in the South China Sea.