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JAKARTA: Indonesia said it drove out a China Coast Guard vessel from a contested area of the South China Sea on Monday (Oct 21).
The Chinese vessel was disrupting survey activities being conducted by a unit of Indonesia’s state-run oil and gas company PT Pertamina in its working area, the country’s Maritime Security Agency or Bakamla said in a Wednesday statement, posted alongside a video of the encounter on YouTube.
The incursion happened in the gas-rich waters around Natuna Islands on the edge of the South China Sea, which are part of Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone. China has insisted that nearly the entire South China Sea marked by the so-called "nine-dash line” is within its territory.
This could be an early test for President Prabowo Subianto who has staunchly maintained Indonesia’s non-aligned stance in foreign policy, saying the country would be "friends with all” and put its interests first. Prabowo, a former defence minister, is expected to visit Beijing next month in what would be one of his first trips as president.
According to Bakamla, when its vessel tried to communicate via radio with the Chinese ship, the China Coast Guard insisted that the area was part of Beijing’s jurisdiction. With the help of an Indonesian Navy patrol ship and a Bakamla patrol aircraft, they were able to shadow the Chinese vessel and eventually drive it out of the North Natuna Sea - the name Indonesia uses for the waters it asserts sovereignty over.
China’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment sent outside normal business hours.
"Bakamla will continue to conduct intensive patrols and monitoring in the waters of North Natuna to ensure that seismic survey activities run without interference and to maintain Indonesia’s sovereignty and sovereign rights,” it said. -Bloomberg
