VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The latest incidents in the North Natuna Sea, Riau Islands Province will not affect the Chinese investment in the country, Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita has said. "I don't see the industrial community in China being affected by the affairs that occur in Natuna," Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said in Jakarta Thursday.

Indonesia remains an attractive investment destination for other countries as the economic situation here is conducive, according to Agus.

Countries in the East Asian region had formulated a policy called the new south policy, in which the countries began to look at investment objectives to the south, he continued.

"So they look south, which is the ASEAN region. Well, in ASEAN, the best country is Indonesia," Agus remarked.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a memorandum of protest regarding violations of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by Chinese coast guards in Natuna waters.

Indonesia's EEZ territory had been established by international law, namely, through the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.

"China is a party of the 1982 UNCLOS, therefore it is China's obligation to respect the implementation of the 1982 UNCLOS," he said.

Indonesia will never recognize the nine-dash line, a unilateral claim made by China that has no legal reason recognized by international law, especially UNCLOS 1982, he said. (ANTARA)