A FISHERMAN was left stunned after reeling in a massive 12ft underwater Chinese spy drone off a tourist island.
The torpedo-shaped object initially baffled the local fisherman – until he noticed the Chinese logo on the hull.
Authorities raced to a beach on Gili Trawangan – an Indonesian island hotspot – after learning about the washed up secret drone.
Local police said officers secured a crime scene but quickly determined there was no signs of radioactivity or explosive material.
It was the reportedly been moved to a nearby naval base.
A spokesman for the Indonesian navy told The Times that a technical assessment was under way to identify the drone’s origin and function.
Data will also be extracted from the drone.
Fished out from the strategic waters of the Lombok Strait, the submersible was printed with the logo of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), along with Chinese characters for a research institute.
CSIC, renamed China State Shipbuilding Corporation, is the world’s largest shipbuilding conglomerate and a key pillar of China’s maritime industrial power, Newsweek reported.
It could also be a civilian vessel which then dishes data back to the People’s Liberation Army as part of Beijing’s military-civil fusion — a strategy where civilian enterprises share technology and resources.
Chinese unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) are known to trawl the waters of the 660ft deep strait – feared to be collecting important underwater data.
The strait is deep enough for manned military submarines and large naval vessels to pass through between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans.
It also connects southeast Asia with the seas around Australia which makes it vital in the event of a future potential conflict in the region.
Underwater drones gives China a cheap, stealthy and persistent way to watch, map and influence the undersea battlespace.
The strait is also a potential solution to the “Malacca dilemma” – China’s dependence on the Strait of Malaccas deemed to be a maritime “choke point” that connects the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
It comes after Taiwan’s President warned Asian neighbours that they are “next” if China invades the self-governing island.
Lai Ching-te said that China would become “more aggressive” and attack other countries in the Indo-Pacific, undermining “peace and stability”.
“If Taiwan were annexed by China, China’s expansionist ambitions would not stop there,” he said.
“The next countries under threat would be Japan, the Philippines, and others in the Indo-Pacific region, with repercussions eventually reaching the Americas and Europe.”
The alarm was sounded as Lai and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) struggled to push through a new $40billion defence budget against parliamentary opposition.
The cash would be spent on crucial defence purchases, including weapons from the US.
China has long vowed to “reunify” with Taiwan and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve this.
