China should ratify sea law convention

China should ratify sea law convention

The status of the Natuna Islands has been cleared up, with
Foreign Minister Cin Qian Qichen's assurance to Foreign Minister
Ali Alatas that the oil-rich islands belong to the Republic of
Indonesia. Foreign Minister Qian, as quoted by Foreign Minister
Ali Alatas on his return home from Beijing last Friday, said that
China had never laid claim to the Natuna Islands.

In the case of Natuna, China displayed a new attitude with
Foreign Minister Qian's assurance that China was willing to
settle its border disputes on the basis of prevailing
international laws, including the 1982 UN-sponsored Convention on
the Law of the Sea. If China and Indonesia agree to settle the
Natuna issue on the basis of this convention, which recognizes an
Exclusive Economic Zone 200 sea miles wide, then obviously the
Natuna Islands belong to us.

In February 1992, the Chinese government issued an important
document, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the
Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, to uphold their claims
on zones in the South China Sea on the basis of historical
arguments. We understand that, in its wider implications, this
law holds the important political message that China will not
deviate from its stance to recapture its lost South China Sea
territories.

New hope dawned with the assurance given by Foreign Minister
Qian to Foreign Minister Ali Alatas that although the Chinese
government remained bound by the February 1992 law, China would
be willing to negotiate settlements to its disputes in a peaceful
manner and on the basis of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of
the Sea. We hope China will soon ratify this convention in order
that the status of the zone surrounding the Natuna Islands will
not become a stumbling block in our relations with China.

-- Kompas, Jakarta