Beijing should tread carefully when it comes to the Natuna Islands, a region belonging to Indonesia that borders the disputed South China Sea, a global trade route rich in fishing stocks and energy reserves. Dr Collin Koh, a Research Fellow at RSIS said despite recent incidents in the Natunas, it was unlikely that Beijing would push Jakarta too hard, given Indonesia’s growing geopolitical importance. “It does not make sense for Beijing to push the envelope too far to test a key ASEAN member state, certainly one that is geographically as large as Indonesia, which has also been playing an active leadership role in recent days, such as in Myanmar’s recent coup,” Koh said.