By Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Ben Blanchard

JAKARTA/BEIJING, March 20 (Reuters) – Indonesia will summon China’s ambassador over an incident involving a Chinese fishing vessel within the Natuna Sea, a minister mentioned on Sunday, as Beijing accused it of attacking the ship in conventional Chinese fishing grounds.

The transfer comes amid heightened tensions within the South China Sea over China’s land reclamation there and over its claims on huge swathes of an essential delivery hall. Several Southeast Asian nations have overlapping claims within the space.

Indonesia was making an attempt to detain the Chinese vessel for fishing illegally in waters close to the contested South China Sea when a Chinese coast guard vessel intervened, fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti informed reporters in Jakarta.

“What we will ask the ambassador is that if they say their nine-dash line does not claim Natuna then why is there still illegal fishing happening there,” Pudjiastuti mentioned, including the ambassador will likely be summoned by the international ministry on Monday.

“Their government should not stand behind illegal and unregulated fishing,” she mentioned.

China’s international ministry, in a press release despatched to Reuters, mentioned the trawler was finishing up “normal activities” in “traditional Chinese fishing grounds.”

“On March 19, after the relevant trawler was attacked and harassed by an armed Indonesian ship, a Chinese Coast Guard ship went to assist,” it mentioned.

“The Chinese side immediately demanded the Indonesian side at once release the detained Chinese fishermen and ensure their personal safety,” the ministry added.

China hopes Indonesia can “appropriately handle” the problem, it mentioned. Indonesian international ministry officers weren’t instantly out there for remark.

China claims huge swathes of the South China Sea which are additionally claimed by a number of Southeast Asian nations.

Indonesia just isn’t a claimant within the disputed South China Sea, however has raised issues over China’s inclusion of the resource-rich Natuna Islands in its so-called “nine-dash line.”

China says that it doesn’t dispute Indonesia’s sovereignty over the Natuna Islands. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016.