On Saturday, the Indonesian Navy reported that a vessel belonging to Vietnam’s Fisheries Resources Surveillance (VFRS) Agency had rammed into one of its corvette-class warships, the KRI Tjiptadi-381, to obstruct the impounding of a Vietnam-flagged boat suspected of fishing illegally in Indonesian waters.

The Foreign Ministry summoned Vietnam’s Ambassador to Indonesia Pham Vinh Quang on Monday to protest the maneuvers in the waters off the Natunas in Riau Islands province, in an area that is disputed but Jakarta claims as its own.

“The actions taken by [the crew of the] Vietnamese surveillance ships were very dangerous for both personnel from the KRI and the Vietnamese ships themselves. Their actions […] violated international law,” ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said Monday.

He argued that Vietnam had violated the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, an international maritime treaty that sets minimum safety standards in the operation of vessels at sea. “One of the regulations is about the safety of crew,” the spokesman said.

Arrmanatha said the Navy’s operation in the Natunas was part of law enforcement in Indonesian territories. He said Indonesia regretted the incident but insisted the ministry would wait for a full report of the incident from the Indonesian Military.

“Of course the Indonesian and Vietnamese sides are still working to ensure that things like this don’t happen again. We are discussing with Vietnam the overlapping claims in these waters,” he said.

An official at the Vietnamese Embassy in Jakarta declined to comment on the matter.

It is not the first time that tensions between the neighbors have flared up this year.

Indonesia’s hard-nosed Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti demanded a formal apology from Hanoi after two similar incidents in February that involved Indonesian vessels Hiu Macan-01 and KRI Tom-357, as well as several VFRS ships.

Jakarta has since stepped up its presence in the Natunas, with Susi herself visiting sites in the area as part of Indonesia’s development of the Natunas as a fisheries hub.

In the latest incident, Rear Admiral Yudo Margono, the commander of the Indonesian Navy’s First Fleet, said actions undertaken by the crew of KRI Tjiptadi-381 were “legal and in accordance with [standard] procedures”. He also said the Vietnamese boat seizure took place well within the Indonesian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the North Natuna Sea.

A video of the incident, in which one of the VFRS vessels rammed into the KRI Tjiptadi-381, went viral on social media. Yudo said the authorities had initially arrested 12 crewmen from the captured boats but two had jumped into the sea and were taken back by the Vietnamese ships. “The other crew members have been taken to the Indonesian naval base in Ranai to be processed,” he said in a press statement.

Indonesia and Vietnam are negotiating the delimitation of their exclusive EEZs — the area that extends 200 nautical miles from a country’s shores and allows for the economic exploitation of the water column within it, including fishing. Vietnam’s claims overlap with part of the Indonesian EEZ that includes the Natunas, near the disputed South China Sea.

Experts have either suggested striking a temporary nonaggression pact until negotiations have concluded or work on prevention.

“Both governments have to discuss maritime conflict prevention measures, otherwise similar if not worse incidents are likely to take place,” said Iis Gindarsah, a defense expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo visited Natuna in 2017 and vowed to ensure that no outside powers would obstruct Indonesia’s rights over the territory and its surrounding waters. In 2018, he visited Vietnam to meet his counterpart and secure assurances to speed up negotiations. (tjs)

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