Indonesia will summon the Chinese envoy in Jakarta after a confrontation between vessels from the two countries in the South China Sea, a minister said Sunday.

The incident happened Saturday when surveillance vessels chased and caught a Chinese fishing boat allegedly operating in waters near the Indonesian Natuna Islands without a permit, Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said.

As the Chinese fishing boat was being towed away by the Indonesians, a Chinese coast guard vessel approached and collided with the fishing boat.

A bigger Chinese coast guard vessel approached later and the Indonesians decided to leave the fishing boat, she said.

"We respect a big country like China, and China should also respect the sovereignty of Indonesia and respect that we are at war with illegal fishing," Pudjiastuti told reporters.

She urged the foreign ministry in Jakarta to lodge a "strong protest" over the "arrogance" of the Chinese vessels.

The fisheries ministry will summon the Chinese envoy in Jakarta, the minister's spokeswoman confirmed to AFP.

A foreign ministry official in Jakarta, Edi Yusuf, told AFP the ministry would also summon the Chinese envoy once it received more details of the incident.

The Chinese ambassador is currently out of town so the charge d'affaires will be summoned, Yusuf added.

Pudjiastuti said she believed the Chinese coastguards stopped the boat from being towed away to prevent it from being sunk.

Since taking up her position as fisheries minister in 2014, Pudjiastuti has launched a crackdown on illegal fishing, blowing up and sinking numerous impounded empty foreign vessels caught fishing without a permit.

Beijing voiced concern last year after Indonesia destroyed an impounded Chinese fishing vessel.

Indonesia does not have overlapping territorial claims with Beijing in the hotly contested South China Sea, unlike several other Asian nations.

But Jakarta has objected to China's nine-dash line -- the demarcation Beijing uses on maps to demonstrate its claim to almost the whole of the sea.

This is because the line overlaps with Indonesia's exclusive economic zone around Natuna, a string of islands rich in fish on the far northwest fringe of the archipelago.

Philippines says defence strengthened under US 'rotational' deal
Manila (AFP) March 20, 2016 - The Philippines on Sunday hailed a new accord giving the US military access to five of its bases, saying this would strengthen its defensive capabilities and maritime security.

The agreement between the two close allies comes as the Philippines and other countries are embroiled in a tense dispute with China over conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Under the agreement, US forces would be able to rotate through five Philippine bases including those close to the South China Sea.

"The five agreed locations... reaffirms the shared committment of the Philippines and US to strengthening their alliance in terms of ensuring both countries' mutual defence and security," Foreign Department spokesman Charles Jose said in a statement.

Defence Department spokesman Peter Galvez said separately the agreement "would greatly enhance our capabilities" in maritime security and disaster relief.

Philippine and US officials meeting in Washington on Friday announced that they had agreed to the rotation of US military personnel under the Enhanced Defense Co-operation Agreement (EDCA), which went into effect in January.

One of the installations is the Antonio Bautista Air Base in the western Philippine island of Palawan, directly facing the South China Sea.

Another is Basa Air Base north of Manila, home of the Philippines' main fighter wing, which is also close to disputed waters.

China claims virtually all the South China Sea despite conflicting partial claims by Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.

It has been asserting its claim by occupying more reefs and outcrops in these waters, and building artificial islands including airstrips on some of them.

- Tense confrontation -

Bautista Air Base is just 300 kilometres (186 miles) east of Mischief Reef, an outcrop occupied by China in the 1990s despite angry protests by the Philippines.

Basa Air Base is about 330 kilometres from Scarborough Shoal, occupied by Chinese vessels after a tense confrontation with Philippine ships in 2012.

The other bases through which US forces can rotate through are a major army training camp with its own airstrip in the north, and two air bases in the central and southern islands of the archipelago.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby said the two sides at their Friday meeting discussed next steps for implementation of the EDCA "and how it will support the United States efforts to help modernize the armed forces of the Philippines, develop capacity and capability for maritime security and domain awareness, and provide rapid humanitarian assistance to the people of the Philippines."

Asked at a Washington briefing on Friday about a possible adverse Chinese reaction to the bases agreement, he said: "It's not about selling it to the Chinese or to anybody. It's about meeting our security commitments in a serious alliance with the Philippines."

Press reports quoted US ambassador Philip Goldberg as saying in Washington that US personnel and equipment would arrive "very soon."

Philippine officials said they did not know when the US forces would arrive.

The Philippines, a US colony from 1898 to 1946, hosted two of the largest overseas US military bases until 1992 when the senate voted to terminate their leases amid growing nationalist sentiment.

But since then Manila has been seeking closer ties with Washington as China has become more assertive in the region.