AP, BEIJINGIndonesia has named waters in its exclusive economic zone that overlap with China’s expansive claim to the South China Sea as the North Natuna Sea in an assertion of sovereignty that has angered Beijing. China claims most of the South China Sea, putting it in dispute with many Southeast Asian nations, including Taiwan, and has carried out extensive land reclamation and construction on reefs and atolls to bolster its claims. Indonesia does not have a territorial dispute with China, but Beijing’s “nine-dash line,” which signifies its claims, overlaps with Indonesia’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone extending from the Natuna Islands. Last week, they urged Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has indefinitely set aside the decision that invalidated China’s sweeping historic claims in the South China Sea, to explore diplomatic and legal means by which to pressure China into complying. Duterte has promised to take up the arbitration ruling with China, but is also courting China as an economic partner and ally.

Source: Taipei Times July 17, 2017 15:56 UTC