South China Sea: Indonesia pledges to develop resource-rich Natuna Islands to secure maritime borders, boost unity

Indonesia is to boost development in the resource-rich Natuna Islands in a bid to underline its sovereignty following visits by Chinese vessels to nearby waters.

Jakarta reiterated its commitment to the archipelago of 27 islands, which lie within Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, on Tuesday during a two-day visit by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD and Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian.

Indonesia views itself as a non-claimant state in the South China Sea territorial disputes and the Natuna Islands themselves lie beyond the nine-dash line Beijing uses to claim more than 90 per cent of the sea. However, some of the waters to the north and northeast of the islands – in an area of Indonesia’s EEZ that Jakarta refers to as the North Natuna Sea – do fall within Beijing’s nine-dash line and are frequently visited by foreign vessels from both China and Vietnam.

“President Joko Widodo said that no matter how many weapons, soldiers and police are available in the Natunas, the country will not effectively guard itself against enemies if there’s no socioeconomic development,” Mahfud said, reported the news website Detik.