印尼請一艘中國船隻立即離開：南海油氣爭端升級

Recently Yahoo News on-line picked up the following:

Indonesia sent a Chinese ship packing, escalating a fight over oil and gas in the South China Sea

Business Insider -Thibault Spirlet

Thu, October 24, 2024 at 11:10 p.m. GMT+8·3 min read

Indonesia said it deployed two vessels and an aircraft to expel a Chinese ship from contested waters in the South China Sea.

The Indonesian National Armed Forces said its Maritime Security Agency's command and control center detected China's coast guard ship at the southern edge of the South China Sea, on Monday.

It said the Chinese ship disrupted survey work — often used to help locate oil and gas reserves beneath the seabed — by Indonesia's state-owned oil and natural gas company PT Pertamina.

The interaction is another turn in a yearslong dispute over who owns the South China Sea, and gets to exploit its resources.

China has staked out an aggressive claim to almost the whole sea, which its neighbors and most Western countries reject.

The rival claims have been playing out in often-violent encounters between Chinese and other ships.

In Monday's run-in, Indonesia said it dispatched a patrol ship dispatched to warn the Chinese ship away via radio.

It said the ship insisted the waters were Chinese, prompting Indonesia to send a navy ship and an aircraft to the area.

"Together, the two Indonesian patrol ships carried out shadowing and succeeded in driving the CCG 5402 ship out of Indonesia's jurisdiction," it said.

Shadowing means following another ship from a distance, a way of pressuring a rival vessel without direct confrontation.

Indonesia's Maritime Security Agency shared aerial footage of the operation on Wednesday, which it said showed the incident.

Neither side immediately responded to requests for comment from Business Insider. As of early Thursday, China had yet to issue any public statement on the encounter.

The incident escalates the dispute over the South China Sea, and highlights the richness of its resources.

It is home to an estimated 3.6 billion barrels of oil and other liquids and 40.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

China's claims overlap with neighboring countries, including Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

An encounter in June between the Philippines and China turned violent, escalating into a physical fight involving bare fists, knives, and swords.

The US Navy has made a point of operating in the South China Sea, sailing in areas it regards as international waters.

Malaysia and Vietnam are also pursuing oil-and-gas projects in the South China Sea, and running into Chinese opposition.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies' Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative assessed in March that the China Coast Guard in 2023 patrolled near Vietnam's Vanguard Bank oil and gas operations for 221 days and near a major cluster of Malaysian oil and gas operations for 338 days.

The encounters so far have stopped short of a true naval confrontation, which risks escalating into a devastating war.

A conflict in the South China Sea — a critical trade route estimated to carry one-third of global shipping — could result in a 10-33% loss in GDP for Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia, according to a 2020 working paper by the US National Bureau of Economic Research.

Translation

印尼請一艘中國船隻立即離開：南海油氣爭端升級

印尼表示，它部署了兩艘船隻和一架飛機，將一艘中國船隻驅逐出南海有爭議的水域。

印尼國家武裝部隊表示，其海事安全局指揮和控制中心週一在南海南部邊緣發現了中國海警船。

據稱，中國船隻擾亂了印尼國有石油和天然氣公司 PT Pertamina 的勘測工作，該工作通常用於幫助確定海底下的石油和天然氣儲量。

這次互動是圍繞著誰擁有南海並開發其資源的長達多年的爭端的又一個轉折時機。

中國對幾乎整個海域提出了氣勢洶洶的主權主張，但遭到鄰國和大多數西方國家的拒絕。

中國與其他船隻之間經常發生暴力衝突，對抗的主張也不斷發生。

在周一的爭論中，印尼表示，它派出了一艘巡邏船，並通過無線電警告中國船隻離開。

據稱，該船堅稱該海域屬於中國海域，導致印尼派遣一艘海軍艦艇和一架飛機前往該地區。

它說: 「印尼兩艘巡邏船共同進行追隨行動，成功將CCG 5402船驅離印尼管轄範圍」。

進行追隨意味著從遠處跟隨另一艘船，這是一種在不直接對抗的情況下向對手船隻施加壓力的方式。

印尼海事安全局週三分享了此次行動的航拍片，稱該片顯示了這一事件。

雙方均未立即回應《商業內幕》的置評請求。截至週四早些時候，中國尚未就這次遭遇發表任何公開聲明。

這事件加劇了南海爭端，凸顯了南海資源的豐富性。

據估計，這裡蘊藏著 36 億桶石油和其他液體以及 40.3 兆立方英尺天然氣。

中國的主權主張與數個鄰國重疊，包括印尼、台灣、越南、汶萊、馬來西亞和菲律賓。

六月，菲律賓和中國之間的衝突升級為赤手空拳、刀劍的肢體衝突。

美國海軍已在南海開展了行動要點，在其視為國際水域的地區航行。

馬來西亞和越南也在南海推展石油和天然氣項目，但遭到了中國的異議。

戰略與國際研究中心的Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative 的3月份評估稱，中國海警於2023年在越南Vanguard Bank 油氣作業區附近巡邏了221天，又在馬來西亞一個主要的油氣作業集群區附近巡邏了338天。

到目前為止，這些相遇還沒有達到真正的海上對抗，對抗有可能升級為一場破壞性的戰爭。

根據美國國家經濟研究局2020年的一份工作論文，南海的衝突可能導致台灣、新加坡、香港、越南、菲律賓同馬來西亞的10% 到33%GDP損失，南海係一條重要的貿易路線，估計承載住全球三分一的航運。

              So, Indonesia has deployed two vessels and an aircraft to expel a Chinese ship from the contested waters in the South China Sea. AMTI assesses that the China Coast Guard in 2023 had frequently patrolled the area near Vietnam's Vanguard Bank oil and gas operations, and also near a major cluster of Malaysian oil and gas operations. Apparently, the present dispute over the South China Sea highlights the richness of its resources in the area.

Note:

1.   Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) was conceived of and designed by CSIS. It is an interactive, regularly-updated source for information, analysis, and policy exchange on maritime security issues in Asia. AMTI aims to promote transparency in the Indo-Pacific to dissuade assertive behavior and conflict and generate opportunities for cooperation and confidence building. (https://amti.csis.org/about/)

2. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. The center conducts policy studies and strategic analyses of political, economic and security issues throughout the world, with a focus on issues concerning international relations, trade, technology, finance, energy and geostrategy. (Wikipedia)