The incident occurred in Saturday when Indonesian Surveillance vessels tried to detain a trawler suspected of operating illegally in Indonesian islands.
On Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called to release Chinese fishing boat crews who were detained during a maritime confrontation with Indonesian Surveillance vessels in the South China Sea.
It was reported that the incident occurred in Saturday when Indonesian Surveillance vessels tried to detain a trawler suspected of operating illegally in Indonesian islands. Later the Chinese coast guard came and hit the detained boat to release it.
However, China said that the area near Indonesia’s Natuna Islands was a “traditional Chinese fishing ground”, and after facing harassment from an Indonesian vessel that the Chinese boat had to be rescued by coastguards.
“With what took place yesterday, we feel our years-long efforts and work to promote peace in the South China Sea were interrupted and sabotaged,” Indonesian Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said yesterday.
Since Chinese “nine-dash-line” claim overlaps Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone around the Natunas, Indonesia has been objecting the Chinese claim in the South China Sea. Several analysts suggested that the recent crisis in the South China Sea is mastered by the west to contain China and its influence in the region. Many of them suspects that the west has been provoking regional conflicts around Chinese neighbors like Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and others to limit Chinese share in the South China Sea. Every year $5.3 trillion of trade passes through the South China Sea, $1.2 trillion is U.S. trade. And more than half of the world’s annual merchant fleet tonnage and a third of all maritime traffic worldwide travel through Chinese waters.
