A picture made available on 21 May 2015 shows an Indonesian Navy ship blowing up an impounded foreign fishing vessel caught fishing illegally in the waters near Bitung, North Sulawesi, 20 May 2015. According to media reports, Indonesia has sunk 41 foreign boats across the country, as part of an ongoing push to stop illegal fishing in its waters. - EPA
Jakarta had been accused in the past of turning a blind eye to illegal Chinese fishing activities in Indonesian waters, not wanting to anger its vastly more powerful trading partner.
However Beijing was unhappy at the move.
“China is gravely concerned about relevant reports, and is asking the Indonesian side to make clarifications,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.
“We hope that the Indonesian side can press ahead with fishery cooperation in a constructive manner and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”
Indonesia does not have overlapping territorial claims with Beijing in the hotly contested South China Sea, home to vital shipping lanes and believed to be rich in oil and gas, unlike several other Asian nations.
But Jakarta has objected to China’s nine-dash line -- the demarcation Beijing uses on maps to demonstrate its claim to almost the whole of the sea -- as it overlaps with Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone around Natuna, a string of islands rich in fishing stocks on the far northwest fringe of the archipelago.
Indonesia has defended its policy of seizing and destroying illegal fishing boats and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti told The Jakarta Post newspaper that sinking vessels was for “the welfare of our fishermen”.
Widodo has said illegal fishing costs Southeast Asia’s biggest economy billions of dollars in lost revenues every year. He hopes that increased earnings from fishing can boost economic growth, which has sunk to a five-year low.
Authorities also say foreigners illegally fishing in Indonesia are partly responsible for massive damage to the environment due to the widespread use of explosives and cyanide.
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