Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has visited the Natuna Islands within the South China Sea, amid an ongoing maritime rights dispute with China.
The visit, aboard a warship, comes a week after the Indonesian army fired on a chinese fishing boat in waters close to the islands, detaining the team.
Mr Widodo was observed by means of his foreign and chief protection ministers.
Beijing does not claim the islands however says it has “overlapping claims” of their waters.
Indonesia has recently been stepping up its reaction to chinese fishing in what it considers its exceptionalwaters, sending warships to back up coast defend vessels which have previously struggled to put in forceterritorial exclusivity.
“within the path of our records, we’ve by no means been this stern [with China],” chief security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan told The Jakarta put up newspaper.
The vicinity is bracing for elevated anxiety over an expected ruling by the permanent courtroom of Arbitration inside the Hague over lawsuits added by means of The Philippines towards China and its claims and sports in the South China Sea.
