China shreds Indonesia’s goodwill a day after Xi’s representative visits Jakarta
A day after Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his special representative and Vice President Han Zheng to Jakarta to attend inauguration of President Prabowo Subianto, tension flared up between the two countries after a Chinese Coast Guard vessel twice in three days last week tried to disrupt a seismic data survey being conducted by an Indonesian energy company in the country’s exclusive economic zone in the North Nauna Sea.
Like Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan, Indonesia does not have any territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea. Despite this, Chinese ships have regularly entered its exclusive economic zone in the North Natuna Sea as Beijing claims it falls within its so-called U-shaped nine-dash line that includes 90% of the South China Sea.