Natuna Islands News

Indonesia said on Friday it was worried about an arms race in the region after neighboring Australia announced plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines as part of a new Indo-Pacific security alliance with the United States and Britain.Known as AUKUS, the alliance will see Australia get the technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines as part of agreement intended to respond to growing Chinese power.In a statement on Friday, the Indonesian foreign ministry noted with caution…

Indonesian navy has increased patrols around its Natuna islands in the South China Sea after Chinese and U.S. vessels were detected nearby in international waters, despite saying there were no disturbance from the vessels, a navy official said on Thursday.Five navy vessels, assisted by an air patrol, have been deployed in North Natuna Sea to secure the area, Indonesian Navy western fleet commander Arsyad Abdullah told reporters.“The Navy’s position on the North Natuna Sea is very…

The United States this week hardened its position on the South China Sea, where it has accused China of attempting to build a "maritime empire" in the potentially energy-rich waters, despite regional concerns.The rivals have accused each other of stoking tension in the strategic waterway at a time of strained relations over everything from the new coronavirus to trade to Hong Kong.A statement from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on July 13 was the first time the United States…

Indonesia has increased patrols around islands near the disputed South China Sea after a Chinese coast guard vessel "trespassed" into Indonesia's exclusive economic zone, authorities said on Friday.The Chinese vessel entered waters off the coast of the northern Natuna islands in mid-December, leading Indonesian foreign ministry to issue a “strong protest” and summon the Chinese ambassador in Jakarta.Speaking in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang…

Indonesia and India pledged on Wednesday to step up defense and maritime cooperation, with plans to develop a strategic Indonesian naval port in the Indian Ocean, the leaders of the two countries said after meeting in Jakarta. Indonesian President Joko Widodo met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss, among other issues, developing infrastructure and an economic zone at Sabang, on the tip of Sumatra island and at the mouth of the Malacca Strait, one of the busiest shipping channels for global trade. "India is a strategic defence partner...and we will continue to advance our cooperation in developing infrastructure, including at Sabang Island and the Andaman Islands," Widodo told a news conference after the meeting at the presidential palace.

An alleged oil heist in Singapore that has already led to 20 arrests, the seizure of at least one tanker and allegations that thieves siphoned thousands of tonnes of fuel from Shell’s biggest refinery is shining a spotlight on an illegal trade worth tens of billions of dollars worldwide. Working routes in a triangle of sea anchored by Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore and encompassing the oil facilities of Malaysia, the smugglers take advantage of a difficult-to-patrol sea and enticing black market prices, experts say.

Vietnam's foreign minister has asked his Indonesian counterpart to investigate and clarify reports that the Indonesian navy shot and wounded two Vietnamese fishermen in the South China Sea, the foreign ministry said on Friday. Pham Binh Minh told Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi by telephone that the reported incident was "very serious ... and not appropriate with the strategic partnership relationship between Vietnam and Indonesia," the Vietnamese foreign ministry said in a statement. "Vietnam is deeply concerned about this incident and proposes Indonesia to quickly investigate and clarify the incident and inform Vietnam of the results and to stop repeating similar acts," Minh was quoting as saying.

Indonesia renamed the northern reaches of its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea as the North Natuna Sea on Friday, the latest act of resistance by Southeast Asian nations to China's territorial ambitions in the maritime region. Seen by analysts as an assertion of Indonesian sovereignty, part of the renamed sea is claimed by China under its contentious maritime boundary, known as the 'nine-dash line', that encompasses most of the resource-rich sea. Several Southeast Asian states dispute China's territorial claims and are competing with China to exploit the South China Sea's abundant hydrocarbon and fishing resources. China has raised the ante by deploying military assets on artificial islands constructed on shoals and reefs in disputed parts of the sea.

President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi,  has vowed to transform Indonesia, which includes 17,000 islands into a ‘maritime power’, and also includes plans to improve port infrastructure, as well as plans to fund a massive infrastructure programme, according to Bloomberg. Indonesia announced on Wednesday evening that it will seek to change the name of the South China Sea to the Natuna Sea in the area within 200 miles of its Natuna Islands, reports SCMP. Ahmad Santosa, the Chief of Task Force 115, an agency combating illegal fishing, said the proposal will “be given to the United Nations”, adding that “if no one objects ... then it will be officially the Natuna Sea”.

Indonesia wants to send hundreds of fishermen to the Natuna Islands to assert its sovereignty over nearby areas of the South China Sea to which China says it also has claims. President Joko Widodo has launched an unprecedented campaign to bolster fishing, oil exploration and defence facilities around the island chain after a series of face-offs between the Indonesian navy and Chinese fishing boats. "We are aware that if we don't do this there could be many claims that disrupt the integrity of Indonesian territory," Chief Maritime Minister Rizal Ramli told reporters on Wednesday. The announcement of the plan came a day after the Permanent…

Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling set for July 12. An international court said it would deliver a hotly anticipated ruling in the Philippines' case against China over the South China Sea on July 12, drawing an immediate rebuke from Beijing, which rejects the tribunal's jurisdiction. The United States, which is a close ally of the Philippines and is concerned about China's expansive South China Sea claims, reiterated its backing for The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration and urged a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Manila is contesting China's historical claim to about 90 percent of the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Countries must be free to pass through the South China Sea, the European Commission said on Wednesday, in its first diplomatic admonishment of Beijing after Chinese jets intercepted a U.S. military plane over the contested waters last month. The Commission avoided directly criticising Beijing, a major trade partner, but warned in a new policy document that it opposed "unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tension", in a sign of concern at China's construction and militarisation of islands in the South China Sea. "The EU wants to see freedom of navigation and over flight upheld in the East and South China Seas," the EU executive said in its document, which is aimed at framing the bloc's China policy over the next five years.

The Indonesian president will travel to the Natuna Islands for the first time on Thursday to assert Indonesia's sovereignty, a senior official said, after China said earlier this week it had an "overlapping claim" over nearby waters. Beijing said on Monday that waters near the Natuna Islands were subject to overlapping claims on "maritime rights and interests" between China and Indonesia. Indonesia's foreign minister on Wednesday rejected China's stance, saying the waters were in Indonesian territory. "Our position is clear that claims can only be made on the basis of international law. For Indonesia, we don't have overlapping claims in any form in Indonesian waters with China," Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters.

An Indonesian naval vessel fired on a Chinese fishing boat on Friday, injuring one person, China's foreign ministry said, the countries' third reported confrontation this year near a chain of islands as regional tensions mount in the South China Sea. Beijing had made official protests over the incident, the ministry said in its statement on Sunday, and urged Indonesia not to take any more actions to complicate the situation. Indonesia's navy said it had fired warning shots at several boats with Chinese flags that it said were fishing illegally near the Natuna Islands, but did not mention any injuries. Indonesia is not part of a broader regional dispute over China's reclamation activities in the South China Sea and Beijing's claims on swathes of key waterways.

Indonesian navy officials detained a Chinese boat along with seven Chinese crew members for allegedly fishing in Indonesian maritime territory in the disputed South China Sea region, Ap reported quoting Indonesia's navy spokesman. The Indonesian warship KRI Imam Bonjol-383 responded to a report from maritime air surveillance officials that 12 foreign fishing boats were illegally working in the Natuna Sea, First Admiral Edi Sucipto said. The navy's warships spotted the China-flagged Yueyandong Yu 19038 fishing boat in Indonesia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) during a naval exercise on Friday. An EEZ is a zone extending 200 nautical miles…

Energy company Pertamina plans to explore for oil and gas in areas close to Indonesia's maritime border in the South China Sea to assert the country's territorial rights, the upstream director of the state-owned company said. "The government needs to have activities around the borders and one of Pertamina's strategies is to support this," Syamsu Alam told Reuters in an interview on Monday. He said Indonesia had lost sovereignty over two disputed islands in the past because it was not developing those areas. "So, like the South China Sea and the borders in North Kalimantan, we need to have some activities there," he said. China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea…

Energy company Pertamina plans to explore for oil and gas in areas close to Indonesia's maritime border in the South China Sea to assert the country's territorial rights, the upstream director of the state-owned company said. "The government needs to have activities around the borders and one of Pertamina's strategies is to support this," Syamsu Alam told Reuters in an interview on Monday. He said Indonesia had lost sovereignty over two disputed islands in the past because it was not developing those areas. "So, like the South China Sea and the borders in North Kalimantan, we need to have some activities there," he said. China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea…

Indonesia has no conflict with China over the South China Sea, an Indonesian palace spokesman said on Wednesday, days after eight Chinese crew members were detained for allegedly fishing illegally in the Natuna Sea. "There is no conflict between Indonesia and China related to the South China Sea," said presidential spokesman Johan Budi told reporters. The Natuna Sea is an area between Peninsular Malaysia and the Malaysian province of Sarawak on Borneo island, at the southern end of the South China Sea. Indonesia has raised concerns in the past that China's claims in the South China Sea include waters near the Natuna Islands. China has accepted Indonesia's sovereignty over the islands.

Indonesia has asked China to clarify its claims over the South China Sea but has yet to receive a response, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, a day after Indonesia's security chief said Jakarta could take Beijing to court over an island dispute. Beijing's claim to almost the entire resource-rich sea is shown on Chinese maps with a nine-dash line that stretches deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also claim parts of the waterway. Last year, the Indonesian armed forces chief accused China of including parts of the Indonesian-ruled Natuna islands within the nine-dash line.

The Indonesian Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has announced plans to develop five maritime technology parks to improve fisheries-based business in Indonesia, says The Jakarta Globe. The areas set for development — dubbed Technoparks for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, or TPKP — have been announced as the Natuna Islands in Riau Islands province; Simeulue district in Aceh; Sangihedi Islands district in North Sulawesi; Western Southeast Maluku district in Maluku, and Merauke district in Papua. Achmad Poernomo, head of research and development at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry said that the government had aside a Rp 17 billion [$1.2 million] budget for TPKP development in those five areas.

The United States and Indonesia held naval exercises near the Natuna Archipelago in the East China Sea, near target China, and the Government in Jakarta hopes that in this region will be constantly carried out military maneuvers, says a Reuters report. “This is the second exercise conducted jointly with the U.S. in this area, and we plan to hold similar maneuvers in the next year. Will regular exercises,” said Manahan Simorangkir, a representative of the naval Forces, Indonesian. The exercises have used military ships and aircraft type P-3 Orion that can detect submarines of the enemy. Including 88 military personnel and a fleet of American aircraft, the drills stretched 300 miles to the northeast to Natuna Islands, an archipelago alarmingly close to Chinese waters in the South China Sea.