South China Sea: what does Beijing want in Indonesia’s Natuna Islands?

Beijing says it just wants to fish in waters where it has historical rights. That is a problem, because it’s within the same area Indonesia claims as its EEZ

For Jakarta, Chinese incursions are a threat to sovereignty and may compel it to look to the US, as part of a strategy of military deterrence

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An Indonesian crew spots a Chinese coastguard vessel in the waters around the Natuna Islands. Photo: Indonesian Maritime Security Agency

Published: 8:00am, 13 Mar 2021Updated: 7:51am, 14 Mar 2021

Beijing should tread carefully when it comes to the Natuna Islands, a region belonging to Indonesia that borders the disputed South China Sea, a global trade route rich in fishing stocks and energy reserves.

That was the view of former Singapore diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, when asked at the SCMP China Conference: Southeast Asia last month whether there were any potential flashpoints between China and the 10-member Asean bloc.

Mahbubani pointed out that not a single member of the bloc had expressed interest in joining the United States, Japan, Australia and India in their “Quad” grouping, which has been described as a bid to counter China’s growing military and economic might in the Indo-Pacific region. Or at least, not yet.

If China wanted to keep it that way, it needed to be cautious in the Natunas and understand the “points of sensitivity”, said Mahbubani, now a distinguished Asia Research Institute fellow at the National University of Singapore.

The fish-rich waters of the Natunas, which lie north of Kalimantan (as the Indonesian portion of Borneo island is known), are increasingly a source of tension in Indonesia’s relationship with China, which is otherwise largely positive.

Indonesia’s civilian maritime force, Bakamla, has accused Chinese and Vietnamese ships of entering its 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the islands, and has clashed several times with Chinese coastguard vessels escorting Chinese fishing boats in the area.