Indonesia mobilises fishermen in stand-off with China

By Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Indonesia will mobilise fishermen
to join warships in the South China Sea to help defend against
Chinese vessels, the government said on Monday, as the biggest
stand-off with China for years escalated off Southeast Asia's
largest country.
In an unusually strong statement, President Joko Widodo told
reporters: "There is no negotiation when it comes to our
sovereignty."
The stand-off since last month in the northern Natuna
islands, where a Chinese coastguard vessel has accompanied
Chinese fishing vessels, has soured the generally friendly
relationship between Jakarta and Beijing.
Indonesia's chief security minister, Mahfud MD, told
reporters that around 120 fishermen from the island of Java
would be sent to the Natuna islands, some 1,000 km (600 miles)
to the north.
"We want to mobilize our fishermen from the north coast and
maybe in turn from other areas to operate by fishing there and
other things," Mahfud said.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, said
last week it was sending more warships to the area. Six
Indonesian ships were there now and four more were on the way,
Imam Hidayat, the head of the Maritime Security Agency's sea
operations sub-directorate, told Reuters.
China claims much of the South China Sea, a global trade
route with rich fishing grounds and energy reserves, as its own
based on what it says its historic activity. But Southeast Asian
countries - and the United States and much of the world - say
such claims have no legal basis.
Indonesian vessels often confront Chinese fishermen off the
Natuna islands, but the presence of the Chinese coastguard
vessel has marked an escalation this year over which Indonesia
summoned the Chinese ambassador. Speaking in Beijing last week, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Geng Shuang said China had sovereignty over the
Spratly islands and their waters and that both China and
Indonesia have "normal" fishing activities there. He did not
specifically mention the Natuna islands, which are southwest of
the Spratlys.
Last year, China engaged in a prolonged maritime stand-off
in Vietnam's extended economic zone and jangled nerves with its
naval presence off the Philippines and Malaysia.
The last peak in tensions between Indonesia and China over
the South China Sea was in 2016, when a Chinese coastguard
vessel rammed a Chinese fishing boat to free it after it had
been intercepted for illegal fishing by Indonesian authorities.

(Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Alex Richardson)