JAKARTA, October 25 ------ Indonesian patrol ships drove a Chinese coast guard vessel away from a survey boat in a disputed area of the South China Sea for the second time in four days, Indonesian authorities said.
Indonesia's Maritime Security Agency (MSA) said a Chinese ship approached the MV Geo Coral on Monday and Wednesday, interrupting a seismic data survey being conducted by the state energy company PT Pertamina in a part of the South China Sea claimed by both countries. China's "nine-dash line," which it uses to roughly demarcate its claim to most of the South China Sea, overlaps with a section of Indonesia's exclusive economic zone that extends from the Natuna Islands.
Jakarta does not have a formal territorial dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea but has become increasingly protective of its rights in the region, while Chinese ships have regularly entered the area Indonesia calls the North Natuna Sea, fueling tensions between the two countries. Indonesian authorities said the Chinese coast guard ship CCG 5402 was detected near MV Geo Coral on Monday. An Indonesian patrol ship contacted the vessel, whose crew insisted that the area was under Chinese jurisdiction. A statement issued on Tuesday said Indonesian coast guard and navy ships then drove the Chinese ship away.
On Wednesday morning, the Chinese ship again approached the site of the seismic survey and did not respond to hails from the Indonesian coast guard, which again drove the vessel away, the MSA said. "Indonesia's Maritime Security Agency will continue to conduct intensive patrols and monitoring in the waters of North Natuna to ensure that seismic survey activities run smoothly and maintain Indonesia's sovereignty and sovereign rights," the statement said.
Clashes at sea between China and its maritime rivals have become increasingly common in recent years, raising tensions, especially with the Philippines and Vietnam. Chinese ships also regularly patrol off the island of Borneo and near James Shoal east of the Natuna islands, China's southernmost territorial claim, which Malaysia says belongs to it. China's construction and militarization of islands in the waterway have also increased tensions as the United States and others have challenged China's claims by dispatching ships and planes to assert the right to freedom of navigation. A 2016 international arbitration ruling involving the Philippines invalidated most of China's sweeping claims to the sea, but Beijing has ignored the ruling and called it a sham. China has in the past explained its presence in the waters on the basis of "traditional fishing rights."
Source: manilatimes.net
Comentários