(Reuters) — Indonesia’s foreign minister on Wednesday (June 22) rejected China’s stance that the two Asian nations have overlapping claims in the South China Sea after skirmishes between Indonesian navy ships and Chinese vessels.
Early this week China’s foreign ministry said the two nations did not have any territorial disputes but there were some overlapping claims on “maritime rights and interests”.
“For Indonesia, we have no overlapping claims of any form with China in our waters, so our position was clear and I have already repeatedly said that,” Retno Marsudi told a group of reporters.
China issued the statement on Monday (June 20) after it said an Indonesian naval vessel fired on a Chinese fishing boat near the chain of islands last Friday (June 17), injuring one person.
Indonesia’s navy responded that it had fired warning shots at several boats with Chinese flags it accused of fishing illegally but there were no injuries.
It was the third reported confrontation near the Natuna Islands this year and comes amid rising regional tensions over China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea.
Indonesia is not part of a broader regional dispute over China’s reclamation activities in the South China Sea but Jakarta has objected to China’s inclusion of waters around Indonesia-ruled Natuna Islands within a “nine-dash line”, which Beijing marks on maps to show its claim on the body of water.
