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strong>March 21, p1

The government will issue a protest against the actions of Chinese coast guard vessels that forcibly rescued a Chinese fishing boat that had been caught by the Maritime and Fisheries Monitoring Task Force fishing illegally near Natuna Islands on Sunday.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said her office would summon Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xie Feng on Monday to demand an explanation about the violation, adding that she had asked Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi to prepare a formal protest letter to be sent to Beijing.

Susi called the intervention '€œarrogant'€ and said it hampered Indonesia'€™s war against illegal fishing, which has seen the capture and destruction of around 120 ships that have been caught poaching in the country'€™s territorial waters.

Your comments:

A dispute of illegal fishing is evolving into a territorial dispute and these guys here are already talking about war. It'€™s very sad and shameful, as if the mind doesn'€™t work.

Salauhwa Tan

The establishment of military bases by China in the South China Sea represents a return to the type of aggression common in the 1930s.

Coast guard vessels are for protection of a coast. It is a very ominous sign that Beijing considers Indonesian waters as part of its coastline. China'€™s strength is that it picks off small parties one by one, assuming the disunity among the parties will ensure there is no serious challenge. Indonesia has to face the reality that it either effectively challenges China through strong regional alliances or maintains its current individual stance and suffers further humiliations and ultimate erosion of its
independence.

Jagera

Next time Indonesia catches a Chinese ship illegally fishing, don'€™t bother towing it back to port. Just sink it on the spot.

Maybe it is time for ASEAN to become a defense alliance.

Kampung Highlander

Don'€™t underestimate Indonesian military power. In 2016, Indonesia is the strongest in ASEAN and ranks 12th in the world!

Boboho

If Chinese commies think Indonesia is scared of their bullying, they are wrong. Indonesia is in the right and has nothing to fear. Even little Vietnam does not tolerate Chinese bullying. Next time, sink all shipping vessels as soon as they are caught mercilessly.

Kuomintang

This is a good provocation to uphold and implement our policies in Natuna and to increase our defense spending. It'€™s time to allocate three percent of GDP to our annual defense budget.

Jalasveva

I would agree that Indonesia'€™s economy is growing, not recovering. However, our income to outcome ratio is unbalanced. We spend more than we need just to repair the mistakes that were done by previous governments.

India'€™s economy may beat the Chinese economy only if it can sustain itself. They have bigger problems than ours if you know what I mean.

I never said that we wouldn'€™t seek nuclear power. We would, if we had enough money and enough smart people to do the job. However, the country is still a narrow-minded country, where science can'€™t be accepted easily, and as I was saying, we spend more than we earn.

Entut

President Jokowi has every intention of increasing Indonesia'€™s defense budget as he repeatedly said in his speeches that Indonesia would become a maritime power in the Asia Pacific region.

Indonesia is a giant nation that is not to be trifled with; I thought China was smart enough not to mess around with Indonesia, but China just proved how dumb they really are to the world. Indonesia should make an example of those Chinese crewmen.

Indonesia'€™s economy is the one recovering, while China'€™s economy is the one taking a beating this year. India'€™s economy is now growing faster than China'€™s and pretty soon Indonesia will be growing faster than China. Indonesia is a big nation as it grows both economically and militarily; who says Indonesia won'€™t seek nuclear weapons?

Shenron

Indonesia should have shot and sunk the Chinese boat, just like what Argentina did last week to Lu Yan Yuan Yu 010 when it was found fishing illegally within Argentina'€™s EEZ.

Then, Indonesia should suspend the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project with China.

Talk2D

China has to improve its relationship with Indonesia. It needs Indonesia very much to solve its dispute in the South China Sea with some ASEAN countries.

BBH