Tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea have been making more headlines in 2025 after escalating alarmingly last year.
Some other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), meanwhile, are trying to maintain good relations with their big neighbor to the north, whose economic and political influence is only growing in importance, while protecting their interests in the disputed waterway.
Reporters from RFA and BenarNews look at how three countries in the South China Sea are approaching relations with China.
INDONESIA: Growing openness toward China
In November 2024, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto stunned South China Sea watchers with a sentence in a joint statement issued in China on his first overseas trip since becoming president.
The seemingly innocuous line explained that Jakarta and Beijing had reached an “important common understanding on joint development in areas of overlapping claims” in the South China Sea.
But analysts were quick to point out that by acknowledging overlapping maritime boundaries, Prabowo and his officials had effectively acknowledged the legitimacy of China’s claims, something Indonesia had never done before.
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