China’s Coast Guard Rams Fishing Boat to Free It From Indonesian Authorities

[jpak]

Source: New York Times

JAKARTA, Indonesia — China’s Coast Guard rammed one of the country’s fishing boats to pry it free from the Indonesian authorities who had seized it over the weekend, angering the Indonesian government and heightening yet another diplomatic dispute over the South China Sea.

The boat was stopped for fishing illegally in Indonesia’s waters and was being towed to port when the Chinese took it back, leaving its crew in the hands of Indonesia. Jakarta reacted with uncharacteristic fury, summoning the Chinese ambassador to a meeting on Monday.

The high-seas confrontation also indicated that Indonesia might be toughening its stance toward China in the region.

It began at 10 p.m. on Saturday when a special task force vessel operated by the Indonesian Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries caught a Chinese fishing boat within Indonesia’s maritime 200-mile exclusive economic zone, off the Natuna Islands northwest of Borneo, said Arrmanatha Nasir, a spokesman for Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry.

Indonesian personnel boarded the Chinese boat, the Kway Fey; took its captain and eight-member crew into custody; and began towing the ship back to a base on the Natuna Islands, Mr. Arrmanatha said.

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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/world/asia/indonesia-south-china-sea-fishing-boat.html?_r=0

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Hmmm... Must have been something on the boat

that the Chinese didn't want captured.

[flvegan]

2. Indonesia blew up the last poaching vessel it arrested.

A glorious, fiery end to the last of the Bandit 6. I like to think that had a little something to do with it.