Indonesia on Monday expelled a Chinese coast guard ship from its maritime zone after it allegedly interfered with a seismic survey operation.
An Indonesia says it had a ship, operated by the state-owned oil and natural gas company PT Pertamina, conducting survey activities in the northern portion of the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), renamed the North Natuna Sea in 2017.
China claims sovereignty over much of the South China Sea, placing it in conflict with several Southeast Asian nations, including not only Indonesia but also Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan. While incidents between Indonesian and Chinese forces are less frequent compared to China’s interactions with Vietnam or the Philippines, the dispute with Jakarta has been an occasional source of friction.
An Indonesian coast guard ship sails in this undated photo. The agency told local media that alongside the country’s navy, it had expelled a Chinese coast guard ship for allegedly harassing a survey operation within the Southeast Asian country’s maritime zone.
Indonesia Maritime Security Agency
In a statement shared with local media, Indonesia’s coast guard said it had received information that China Coast Guard ship 5402 was disrupting the survey activities.
An Indonesian coast guard cutter approached the Chinese ship, coming within around 8 miles of it and issuing a radio warning. However, the Chinese vessel insisted it was operating within Chinese waters.
In an Indonesian coast guard video shared by X (formerly Twitter) account JATOSINT, a Chinese crew member can be heard asserting sovereignty rights over the area and its seabed.
Reinforcements later arrived in the form of a patrol plane and navy patrol ship. The Indonesian vessels shadowed the Chinese counterpart until it was ultimately expelled from Indonesia’s EEZ, per the statement.
Newsweek has reached out to both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Indonesia’s coast guard for comment but has not received responses as of the time of publication.
According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), an EEZ extends 200 nautical miles from a country’s coastline, granting it exclusive rights to the natural resources in that area.
SeaLight, a maritime analyst group affiliated with Stanford University, cited tracking data showing the Chinese ship arriving in the North Natuna Sea Saturday to replace another Chinese vessel, CCG 5302, which had been frustrating Indonesian survey efforts for several days.
SeaLight director Ray Powell said that by noon on October 22, CCG 5402 ship had moved out of Indonesia’s EEZ and into Vietnam’s, although it continued to be closely monitored by the Indonesian coast guard.
China boasts the largest coast guard fleet in the world, frequently deploying its vessels far from its own coastline to assert territorial claims. These heavily armed ships engage in what experts call “grey-zone” tactics, coercive maneuvers that stop short of armed conflict.
“Together, the two Indonesian patrol boats carried out shadowing and succeeded in expelling the CCG 5402 ship out of Indonesia’s jurisdiction in the North Natuna Sea,” Tempo cited Captain Yuhanes Antara, an Indonesian coast guard spokesperson, as saying.
He pledged the agency would to continue “intensive patrols and monitoring” to ensure the seismic surveys proceed without further interference and safeguard the country’s sovereignty.
This confrontation occurred on the same day Prabowo Subianto was inaugurated as Indonesia’s eighth president, a ceremony attended by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. In a meeting with Prabowo, Han expressed China’s desire to strengthen strategic ties and mutual support for core interests.
