China has called on Indonesia to release eight fishermen as a dispute between the two countries over an incident in the contested South China Sea flares up.
Indonesia called on the Chinese ambassador on Monday to explain exactly where last week's incident involving an Indonesian vessel, a Chinese fishing vessel and the Chinese coast guard occurred.
Indonesia said it had picked up a Chinese fishing boat as it was illegally trawling off the Natuna Island, near Malaysia.
It picked up the crew and began towing the boat back to Chinese waters.
Suddenly however, according to Indonesia, a Chinese coast guard boat intervened and "hit" the fishing vessel to try and stop Indonesia from towing it.
The fishing vessel was taken back to China, but the crew remains under Indonesian detention.
But an official from China's embassy in Indonesia, Sun Weide, said the confrontation occurred in "traditional Chinese fishing grounds" and called on Indonesia to immediately release the eight detained fishermen.
"We hope the Indonesian side can proceed in the interest of our good bilateral relations and solve this kind of issue," he said.
Indonesia's Marine and Fishery Minister Susi Pudjiastuti however disputed this statement, saying it rejected China's claim to the Natuna Sea near Malaysia.
"There's no international treaty which recognises or admits what's been claimed by the China government as traditional fishing ground. If there's such, that's a one-sided claim and not acknowledged by the international community," she told reporters.
"This hitting incident is a threat to safety of those, whoever, on the vessel, whether it be their crews or our officers.
"Intentionally hitting the vessel, crashing the vessel, that's a threat to safety and it caused a serious incident, a very serious incident."
She said the Chinese government should be "wise" not to interfere with Indonesia's law enforcement in the region.
"I hope China's government could differentiate between IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing and sovereignty or other things related with nations."
The South China Sea is a contested zone.
Rich in fishing stocks and believed to be home to extensive oil and gas deposits, it has become the subject of overlapping claims from six Asian nations.
Indonesia, however, is not a claimant in the region.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said it was paramount that countries ensure the area is one of "decreasing tensions, not increasing tensions".
While not a claimant in the region, Ms Bishop said Australia reserves the right to freedom of navigation and overflight of the South China Sea, through which more than $6.7 trillion in global trade passes each year.
