Anambas Expedition: Diplomacy through Scientific Mission

Written by Aris Heru Utomo 

In the 1990’s, political tension in the South China Sea was high. The dispute territorial claims in the South China Sea remain a dangerous source of potential conflict in the absence of preventive measures to forestall a military or political crisis. Six claimant countries, Brunei Darussalam, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam, have claims in this region and some of them have sent their military force to the region.

Considering this political situation, in 1990 Indonesia convened a first workshop to manage potential conflicts in the South China Sea. Regardless of the territorial disputes, Indonesia tried to find out ways to manage potential conflict and to find an area or areas in which everyone could agree to co-operate, no matter how small or how insignificant it might seem to be.