BEIJING (AP) – The Chinese government on Wednesday called on Indonesia to treat a group of detained Chinese sailors fairly, but gave no indication of what its tanker was doing when it found itself at sea carrying fuel from a Iranian ship.
Iranian-flagged MT Horse and Panamanian-flagged MT Freya were confiscated on Sunday and are suspected of illegally transferring fuel to the sea, shutting down their identification systems and other crimes. Indonesian authorities said 36 Iranian and 25 Chinese crew members were detained.
Iran has been selling oil on the black market since President Donald Trump imposed sanctions in 2018 and threatened to penalize countries that bought Iranian crude. Iranian tankers turn off tracking equipment to hide their destinations.
Indonesian authorities confirmed to the Chinese embassy that the crew members are “in good condition,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
The embassy called on Indonesian authorities to “investigate the case impartially in accordance with the law and ensure the health, safety and legitimate rights and interests of the crew,” Zhao said.
He gave no details about the owner or fate of the Chinese ship.
On Wednesday, both oil tankers were anchored on Batam Island in the Riau Islands, south of Singapore, the Indonesian government said.
In August, U.S. officials said the Trump administration confiscated 1.1 million barrels of gasoline from four tankers going from Iran to Venezuela.
In 2018, ships were captured in satellite photos transferring oil to North Korean ships off the Chinese coast in a possible effort to evade UN sanctions on North Korea. The Chinese government said it would investigate, but has not yet announced results.