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Indonesia’s president held a cabinet meeting aboard a warship off the Natuna Islands on Thursday, asserting sovereignty over waters in the southern reaches of the South China Sea after Beijing stated its “overlapping claim” on nearby waters.

President Joko Widodo’s visit to the remote island chain along with his chief security minister, foreign minister, and military chief was described by Indonesian officials as the strongest message that has been given to China over the issue.

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The trip by Widodo, also known as Jokowi, comes a week after Indonesia’s navy detained a Chinese vessel fishing off the islands and arrested seven fishermen. China’s foreign ministry said Monday that China has no territorial sovereignty dispute with Indonesia, “yet the two countries have overlapping claims for maritime rights and interests over some part of the South China Sea.”

“The ability of Indonesia’s military and maritime security agency to guard the sea must be improved,” Jokowi said aboard the KRI Imam Bonjol, a warship that patrols the waters around the islands. He was joined by Coordinating Minister for Security Affairs Luhut Panjaitan, who said Jokowi may encourage some of the 6,000 vessels now fishing in the Java Sea to move north to waters around Natuna rather than leave the fishing grounds to “other” people.