For Indonesia, the core issue with China in the EEZ around the Natunas is not fisheries but how to defend its sovereignty. And the issue is much more a regional than a bilateral one because four other Southeast Asian maritime states have problems with China in their EEZ.
ASEAN does not provide a platform for these Southeast Asian maritime states to defend their interests. Indonesia should lead an informal coalition of maritime states in Southeast Asia to do so.… Read on in “Re-assessing Indonesia’s Role in the South China Sea” by Prof Donald Weatherbee here.