The incident happened Saturday when surveillance vessels chased and caught a Chinese fishing boat allegedly operating in waters near the Indonesian Natuna Islands without a permit, Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said.
Advertisement
Indonesian authorities attempted to detain a Chinese vessel they said was fishing illegally in its waters, an Indonesian official said earlier.
Indonesia has no plans to boost military resources in the remote, resource-rich Natuna Islands in response to the latest incident, the defence minister said. “We respect China, but we must also maintain our sovereignty”, she added.
The eight Chinese crew members are still in custody in Indonesia, the media reported, citing the minister.
China’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement sent to Reuters, said the trawler was carrying out “normal activities” in “traditional Chinese fishing grounds”. Eight crewmen were detained.
But Jakarta has objected to China’s nine-dash line – the demarcation Beijing uses on maps to demonstrate its claim to nearly the whole of the sea.
This chronology suggests an unprecedented level of Chinese coast guard aggression against Indonesian maritime patrol vessels.
“Natuna belongs to Indonesia, it is very crystal clear that Natuna belongs to Indonesia”, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told Bloomberg in an interview on Friday.
Indonesia does not have overlapping territorial claims with Beijing in the hotly contested South China Sea, unlike several other Asian nations.
Beijing voiced concern a year ago after Indonesia destroyed an impounded Chinese fishing vessel. Indonesia has been careful diplomatically in seeking clarification from China regarding the nature of its claims near the Natuna Islands; Jakarta is wary of formally recognizing that a dispute exists, thereby potentially legitimizing China’s position.
Soon after, another better-equipped Chinese coast guard ship arrived on the scene and ordered the Indonesian patrol vessel to release the ship within 30 minutes in order that it could be taken back to Chinese waters.
In a previous incident, a China Coast Guard ship, left, blocks the way of a Vietnam Coast Guard ship near to the site of a Chinese drilling oil rig.
Advertisement
“I asked the minister to release eight fishermen detained by Indonesia”, he told reporters after being summoned by Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who has been leading a crackdown on illegal fishing.
