Where is Japan’s EEZ? Tokyo’s complaint over Chinese survey ship marks unresolved issue

A new diplomatic protest from Tokyo over suspected marine surveys by a Chinese vessel in contested waters has renewed focus on a long-standing unresolved issue: the lack of agreement between Japan and China on their maritime boundaries in the East China Sea. At the centre of the row is a clash of interpretations. While Japan insists the Chinese survey ship violated its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by conducting underwater research without getting its prior consent, analysts point out that China does not recognise Tokyo’s claim to the area and has long rejected the median line Japan uses as the boundary. This dispute has become a persistent flashpoint, complicated by rising strategic competition between China and Japan, and limited avenues for enforcement, according to the analysts. The foreign ministry in Tokyo lodged a formal complaint with Beijing after the Chinese vessel, Xiang Yang Hong 22, was spotted on Sunday lowering what appeared to be survey equipment into the sea about 385km (239 miles) west of Amami Oshima, a Japanese island in the country’s southwest. Japan said the activity constituted unauthorised maritime research in its EEZ. The same vessel was also later observed operating in the same vicinity on Tuesday and Wednesday, prompting repeated warnings from the Japanese coastguard. On each occasion, the ship crossed the median line that Japan considers the de facto boundary marking its EEZ, according to media reports. While Beijing has not publicly responded to the incidents, it has consistently maintained that there is no official maritime boundary in the East China Sea and rejects Japan’s use of a median line as the marker. Instead, it argues that its rights extend further east because the undersea continental shelf connected to its coast stretches in that direction. In an August press briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said: “China is committed to comprehensively and effectively implementing the principled consensus on the East China Sea issue. This position has not changed.” Tokyo, however, views the repeated surveys involving Chinese vessels differently, interpreting them as challenges to its jurisdiction and moves that could boost China’s military capabilities. “This ship was definitely gathering underwater data, information on tides, temperatures, depths and so on, which will help China to gather complete data for the operations of its submarines,” said Masayuki Masuda, director of Chinese studies at the Ministry of Defence’s National Institute of Defence Studies in Tokyo. “Even if China is carrying out scientific research, China is required to obtain approval from Japan under international law,” he told This Week in Asia. “But as China keeps conducting these operations, it suggests that it does not agree with the demarcation line for our respective EEZs.” Masuda said that while China might not recognise Japan’s EEZ in the East China Sea, both sides set up a process for bilateral notification in 2001 to cover scientific research in the region, but Tokyo felt Beijing was ignoring this mechanism. Japan could do little to deter Chinese ships from carrying out survey operations within its waters, according to analysts. Masuda said: “Japan has to show China and the rest of the world that this is Japan’s EEZ and we should not only do that through strong diplomatic works.” He proposed that Japan conduct its own undersea research in the disputed area to support its territorial stance and deploy more coastguard units to “closely monitor” the movements of suspicious Chinese vessels. “We have several options, some of them may be indirect, but Japan does need to have a constant presence in that area,” he said. Japan, however, could not intervene in the same way as France did during a recent incident in French waters involving a purported Russian vessel, according to Masuda. On Tuesday, French forces boarded a tanker off the west coast of France that was suspected of being part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” and linked to a series of drone intrusions into Denmark. In the event of Japan taking a similar step to what the French did, China would respond by sending more coastguard vessels to waters around the Diaoyu Islands, said Masuda, referring to the islands that Japan call the Senkaku Islands. The uninhabited islands in the East China Sea are presently controlled by Japan. “It is likely that the [Japanese] coastguard has those kinds of options, but I do not believe Japan would take that step because of concerns over escalation. Japan does not want to see that kind of stand-off situation developing,” Masuda said. James Brown, a professor of international relations at the Tokyo campus of Temple University, agreed that the two situations were very different. “If this ship were damaging undersea cables, I could see Japan considering taking more strident action, but not in a case like this,” he said. “The reaction from China would be huge,” he added, pointing to an incident in 2010 when a Chinese trawler rammed a Japanese coastguard vessel that was attempting to stop it from sailing in waters close to the Diaoyu Islands. The Chinese captain of the fishing boat was subsequently arrested and held in Okinawa, sparking a huge diplomatic crisis and violence against Japanese businesses and individuals in China. Japan later released the captain without pressing any charges against him. In response to the movements of the Chinese survey ship over the past week, online users in Japan have expressed outrage and demanded firmer action by Tokyo. ”Since they intentionally sailed into the EEZ without permission, the Japan coastguard should have seized them rather than just issuing a warning,” said a message on the website of the Minami Nippon Shimbun. “If a Japanese ship were to do the same thing, it would definitely be seized. A mere ‘expression of regret’ will not get through to the Chinese side.” Another user added: “It is because of incidents like this that Japan has no choice but to increase its military strength.”

Where is Japan’s EEZ? Tokyo’s complaint over Chinese survey ship marks unresolved issue

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A Chinese survey ship has reportedly entered Japanese waters in the East China Sea over three days in the past week

A Chinese survey ship has reportedly entered Japanese waters in the East China Sea over three days in the past week