An Indonesian government official believes an underwater drone found by local fishermen last month is of Chinese origins.
The Governor of the Indonesian region of South Sulawesi, Nurdin Abdullah, said on Tuesday that based on preliminary findings “it seems like the drone was made in China.”
“Whether it was put there or who put it there is unknown to us,” Abdullah said.
The confirmation comes after Indonesian security and defence commentators noted its resemblance to Chinese “Sea Wing” drones.
Indonesian defence commentator JATOSINT wrote on Twitter on Dec. 29 that the drone’s specifications resemble to those used by China.
Currently the drone is being analysed at the Indonesian Navy’s Center for Hydrography and Oceanography.
Indonesian government officials are deeply concerned.
“The Indonesian Foreign Ministry must lodge a protest with the country which owns the drone that was recently found by a fisherman near Selayar Island, South Sulawesi province,” he said.
“The Foreign Ministry needs to also coordinate with the military (TNI) commander to take the necessary measures in response to the discovery of the foreign UUV,” he said.
Indonesian security analyst Muhammad Fauzan believes that the drone found last month, if Chinese, was most likely mapping future submarine routes, as it was in a significant maritime route between China and Australia’s northernmost city of Darwin.
Indonesia straddles multiple important shipping routes vital for Australia and the Indo-Pacific nations, including the Malacca and Lombok Straits.
Both are vital maritime corridors for Australian exports—resources, energy, and agricultural produce—and critical for importing liquid energy supplies and consumer goods from Asia and Europe.
If it was surveying, then this could have ramifications for Australia, Malcolm Davis, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said.
Davis told the ABC that the Chinese navy would need to understand the oceanographic and the bathymetric nature of that region before they deployed submarines and using drones to map an area is a common precursor to that eventuality.
He warned that Australia needs to prepare for Chinese submarines in its waters if this is the case.
“It does send a signal that the Chinese navy is getting ready to deploy submarines closer to our maritime approaches north of Darwin and we need to be ready for the prospect of submarine activity much closer to Australia’s northern coast than we have been experiencing in the past,” Davis said.