INDONESIA CLAIMS THAT it does not border on China, but the PRC argues that the Wo countries overlap in the southwestern corner of the SCS where the Natuna Island Group (called Pulau Sekatung in Indonesia) is located. The maritime territory under dispute could be as great as 28,500 nm2 (98,000 km2). While Indonesia has repeatedly rejected all Chinese invitations to engage in bilateral negotiations, a series of incidents regarding illegal Chinese fishing activities in the Natuna Sea may force Indonesia and China to open talks.

The Natuna islands are an archipelago of more than 200 islands located in Riau province about 800 miles north of Jakarta. It is unclear whether Indonesia actually shares a boundary with China. Indonesia officially recognizes ten neighbors, but not China. Indonesia shares land boundaries with three neighbors - Malaysia in Borneo, Timor-Leste in Timor Island, and Papua New Guinea on the island of New Guinea - and has seven maritime neighbors: from west to east they are India, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Palau, and Australia.

Disputes over fishing are the main problems. But offshore oil fields adjacent to the Natuna islands may also become an important source of Sino-Indonesian conflict, since China and Indonesia have both claimed oil resources in the southern part of the SCS. The offshore fields near the Natuna islands are estimated to contain 46 trillion cubic feet of recoverable reserves of natural gas, and are of considerably economic importance to Indonesia. Beijing argues there is a maritime conflict that requires delimitation while Jakarta insists there is no overlap.

THE INDONESIAN CLAIM

Indonesia has more island borders than almost any other country. For this reason, it was closely involved with the drafting of the UNCLOS convention in 1982 so that it would include the concept of an archipelagic state. Indonesia signed the Convention in 1985 and ratified it in 1986. Indonesia's maritime claims extend from baselines defined around the Natuna islands northward to the SCS. Jakarta has concluded maritime boundary agreements with Malaysia and Vietnam in the same areas that are potentially being claimed by China. To date, Indonesia has rejected all Chinese overtures to engage in bilateral negotiations.