Tension Rises Between Australia and Indonesia Over Migrant Patrols JAKARTA, Indonesia - In the latest diplomatic row between the two nations over asylum seekers, an Indonesian government official said Friday that the country would increase maritime security patrols following an admission by Australia that its vessels inadvertently entered Indonesia's territorial waters earlier in the week during operations to repel migrant boats. Agus R. Barnas, spokesman for Indonesia's Ministry of Legal, Political and Security Affairs, denounced the incursions, saying Indonesia "has a legitimate right to protect and defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity in accordance with international law and the U.N. charter." The government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott implemented a contentious Australian policy in September to stop thousands of people, mostly from South Asia and the Middle East, using Indonesia as a transit point each year to board rickety boats bound for Australia to seek asylum, including by forcing the boats back into Indonesian waters. Earlier on Friday, Scott Morrison, the immigration minister, told a news conference in Canberra, the Australian capital, that at least one border protection boat on Wednesday "inadvertently entered Indonesian territorial waters on several occasions in breach of Australian government policy." He said Canberra would offer an "unqualified apology" to Indonesia. Relations between the Southeast Asian neighbors plummeted in November after the publication of leaked documents by Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, saying that Australia's embassy in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, was part of a United States-led spying effort in Asia. The documents said Canberra had tried to bug the phone of the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. In response, Mr. Yudhoyono's government halted cooperation with Australia on stopping asylum seekers" boats, leaving Canberra to go it alone. Mr. Agus said the Indonesian Navy would station an additional frigate in the eastern port city of Kupang, as part of the country's increased security patrols. Their purpose, however, was not to challenge Australia but show Indonesia's commitment to stemming the tide of asylum seekers, he said by telephone. "The Australian Navy is coming to the Indonesian border because of the illegal migrants," he said, adding that Indonesia would not resume joint naval patrols with Australia until their governments signed a code of conduct accord on surveillance by their respective intelligence agencies. Yohanes Sulaiman, a lecturer at the Indonesian Defense University, said that regardless of any increased patrols, the Indonesian Navy was not equipped to challenge Australian naval vessels that entered its territory. What, are they looking to sink Australian ships? They don't have the ability to do that," he said. It's all bark and no bite, but they have to say something because of the news that Australia crossed the border.