Indonesia to sink 71 fishing boats amid SCS tensions

Jakarta prepares to mark its independence day celebrations on Wednesday by scuttling as many as 71 foreign boats seized for illegally fishing in Indonesian waters.

The government has previously said that Chinese ships would be among those scuttled. The sinking in May of a large Chinese vessel ship caught fishing illegally around the Natunas drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing.

The fishing vessels were detained by the Indonesian Navy and their crewmembers have been in the custody of immigration authorities while their captains await trial.

Navy personnel are still looking for the appropriate location for the scuttling ceremony as no explosives will be used due to environmental considerations, the Jakarta Globe reported.

The destruction of the boats comes amid growing regional tensions over territorial disputes in the water. Unlike several of its Southeast Asian neighbours, Indonesia has long maintained it has no maritime disputes with China in the South China Sea and does not contest ownership of any territory there.

But Beijing’s claims overlap Indonesia's exclusive economic zone, waters where a state has the right to exploit resources, around the Natunas. There has been a rise in clashes there between Indonesian patrol and navy boats and Chinese fishing vessels and coastguards. After one such encounter in June, Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the Natunas on a warship. His defence minister has since outlined plans to improve an airstrip and deploy surface-to-air missiles, drones and other military hardware to the remote islands. Since the end of 2014, Indonesia has destroyed more than 170 foreign vessels from various nations as it has tried to fend off Chinese claims that waters surrounding the Natuna Islands are part of traditional Chinese fishing grounds.