Apparently, China did not tell its fisher militia to, ah, not test the waters by violating others' waters and acting so aggressively. For, a few days later, it was
Indonesia's turn to detain more PRC fisher militiamen:
Indonesia detained the crew of a Chinese boat suspected of illegally fishing in its waters after a chase involving a Chinese coast guard vessel.
The government submitted a protest to China’s charge d’affaires Sun Weide in Jakarta over the incident in Indonesia’s economic zone near the Natuna islands, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said, according to state news agency Antara.
Earlier, ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said a Chinese coast guard vessel had entered the melee, colliding with the fishing boat as it was being towed by an Indonesian patrol ship. It was unclear how many fishermen were on the boat and are now being held.
“We are concerned, but I can’t say much more before all the facts are verified,” Nasir said.
Under President Joko Widodo the government has taken a more assertive approach to foreign policy, stepping up control of the borders of the world’s largest archipelago, developing its coast guard and blowing up vessels found illegally fishing in its waters. Indonesia is also deploying warships in the gas-rich waters around Natuna, in response to China’s growing military presence in the disputed South China Sea.
As it turns out, China had pressured Indonesia
not to publicize the incident. Indonesia not being directly a claimant to the South China Sea, it had tried to be a neutral peacemaker among contesting parties. However, with China acting aggressively against it via its fisher militia, you can bet that even PRC-Indonesia have come under strain:
Hours after reports of a confrontation between a Chinese coastguard
ship and an Indonesian vessel in the South China Sea, a top Chinese
diplomat called an Indonesian government official with a plea: Don’t
tell the media, we are friends after all.
That request was
rebuffed as officials in Jakarta called a press conference to complain
about China’s actions. While Indonesia has largely been on the periphery
of disputes between China and other nations over the South China Sea,
the spat risks drawing the Southeast Asian nation into territorial
contests in the oil-and-gas rich waters.
The Indonesian official
said his government didn’t want to respond, but was forced to because
China’s actions were especially provocative, and fitted a pattern of
becoming more assertive in the waters. The official didn’t want to be
named because of the sensitivity of the incident. The Chinese embassy
didn’t answer four phone calls or reply to two e-mails asking about the
call.
BOTTOM LINE: Like the US before it, China is a bully that needs to be put in its place. It claims not to seek hegemony, but its territorial claims are ludicrous and its territorial violations span the globe as its fishing fleet rams any and all who dare contest its illegal overfishing activities.
I'd suggest that the dozens of aggrieved countries band together and develop a strategy to deal with these "fishing" Chinese bandits. Overfishing is not a laughing matter. Sure, China needs to fill ever-greater demand for seafood of its increasingly affluent population, but there are limits to acceptable behavior in the international community. If detaining and, indeed, even
stopping these offenders is necessary, let's just say no one is especially sympathetic to the PRC.
When China is keen to offend even those who view it more positively than others like Argentina and Indonesia, well, that's the likely result. With friends like China...
