By Ainur Rohmah
TUBAN, Indonesia (AA) - Indonesia's president has held a meeting with ministers aboard a warship that clashed with Chinese fishing vessels earlier this month, ministers stating Thursday that ownership of neighboring islands is not up for discussion.
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung was reported as saying that Joko Widodo's visit to Natuna in the South China Sea carries the message that the area is Indonesian territory and cannot be contested by any country, including China.
"The president would like to emphasize that Natuna is Indonesia's sovereignty and that is final," Anung was quoted as saying by detik.com.
Widodo was joined on the trip by his foreign minister and armed forces chief.
Early Thursday he arrived at a navy base before being escorted to the warship.
The visit followed Chinese government protests after the warship - the Imam Bonjol - shot at a fishing boat, Han Tan Cou 19038, suspected of illegal fishing in Natuna, and arrested its crew.
Beijing had "strongly protested" the "harassment", which was reported to have left one crewmember injured and seven others detained in what state media called “a traditional Chinese fishing ground".
The Indonesian navy claimed that the vessel was one of 12 ships illegally fishing in the Natuna region.
It also said China's Coast Guard vessel had entered Indonesia's Exclusive Economic Zone to ask for the release of the Han Tan Cou, but the request was denied.
In a statement released Thursday, presidential spokesman Ari Dwipayana said that Widodo wants to accelerate development in Natuna regency by developing various areas of economic potential, including fisheries and marine tourism.
He said Natuna in Riau Islands is a strategic region bordering with Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia, and is well known to be rich in oil and gas.
China claims almost all the resource-rich sea, and has overlapping claims with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.
While the Natuna Islands are recognized as Indonesian territory, the country’s exclusive economic zone in around Nantuna overlaps slightly with southernmost parts of the South China Sea.