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Who can fish in waters near Natuna Islands and how?
It is time for China and Indonesia to consider setting up such a mechanism to deal with the fishing problems and manage disputes in the South China Sea.
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Indonesian navy vessels sail across Natuna waters off Riau Islands. (Antara/-)
R
ecently, it seems that Indonesian scholars have been paying much more attention to the fishing activities of Chinese vessels in the waters southwest of Nansha Qundao (Nansha Islands), describing it as a “new action” by China. Actually, China’s fishing vessels have been fishing there for a long time and it is nothing new.
The “southwest fishing ground” is the unique name of that area given by Chinese fishermen since long ago.
As correctly analyzed in an article published by Global Times on Jan. 6, there is no territorial sovereignty dispute between the two countries. According to the Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s statements from both sides, the dispute between China and Indonesia is about overlapping maritime claims and relevant maritime interests. In the current situation, the dispute is mainly about fishing rights in the context of the maritime dispute.
The fishing activities are within an area pending maritime delimitation, which overlaps between China’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) claim based on Nansha Islands and Indonesia’s EEZ claim based on Natuna Islands. China and Indonesia have not started the maritime delimitation. This is a fact.
Unlike oil and gas exploitation and exploration, fishing activities are not excluded by law from a sea area pending maritime delimitation for the parties in a dispute.
On the contrary, according to general international law, traditional rights are always preserved and not extinguished by boundary claims and problems.
Besides, traditional fishing rights are preserved under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Thus, no matter whether China and Indonesia have a dispute over the maritime delimitation or even if the relevant maritime claims of both sides are in complete opposition, traditional fishing rights will not be excluded.
