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