Seeking answers to East Asia’s stubborn maritime disputes

Posted on : 2012-09-24 15:17 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Scholars gather in Taiwan to discuss range of complicated standards on maritime rights

By Kang Tae-ho, senior staff writer in Taipei

While the three major countries in East Asia, Korea, Japan and China, are in dispute over territorial warers boundaries, a special international seminar on “the geographical character in East Asian oceans and laws of the sea” was held in Taipei on September 20-21.

The seminar, which was jointly organized, by Korea’s Ieodo Research Society and the Asia Pacific Research Center of the Academia Sinica of Taiwan gathered scholars of not only the three countries where the clashes have been especially sensitive but also experts from the host country, Singapore, Vietnam and other neighboring countries to find solutions to maritime disputes.

Dr. Bang Ho-sam, professor at Chonnam National University and other scholars said that the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which is widely referred to for water boundary decisions, is too broad and ambiguous, leaving open the interpretation of coastal and sea territorial rights to the respective countries.

Especially, the law stipulates, “Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone.” However, the baseline for territorial waters boundary that distinguishes an atoll (or reef) from an island is very vague. Accordingly, many countries are trying to secure the rights of atolls around their coastal areas by setting up bases and facilities there. Two examples of these are the Okinotori Islands claimed by Japan and Korea’s Ieodo.

Okinotori is a coral reef situated 1740 kilometers South of Tokyo. Okinotori is under water most of the time but when the tide is high, two peaks which are about 70cm in total appear above water. The total of the area above water is about 10 square meters. Despite this limitation, however, Japan is working to develop it into an “island,” by encasing the reef with tons of concrete and fortifying it into an observation deck with a helicopter landing. With it, Japan has asked the UN to recognize Okinotori as an “island.” In addition, it has set a continental shelf of 250 thousand km2, which is 66% of its total land area (380 thousand square kilometers). This is being strongly disputed by China. China’s claim is that Okinotori is not an island and therefore an EEZ (exclusive economic zone) cannot be applied to it.

Ieodo on the other hand is an underwater reef about 5m below sea level. It became part of Korea’s coastal jurisdiction in 1951 when a national survey of its territory including coastal areas was conducted. In 1970, the Submarine Mineral Resources Development Act was adopted and the coastal areas surrounding Ieodo was declared part of Korea’s mining project; it was dubbed the 7th mine lot. In 2003 a maritime science base was constructed there. Unlike Japan, Korea considers Ieodo a reef and not an island. But problems began with the construction of the base as China claimed that Ieodo is within the 200 nautical mile EEZ. China has officially made this claim twice, once in 2000 and again in 2002. In 2011 it sent three surveillance boats to the area, a provocative gesture.

At the seminar in Taiwan, Koh Choong-suk, Director of the Ieodo Research Society made a proposal with the following premise, “A reef that is not being inhabited falls under the jurisdiction of the nearest inhabited island.” If China is not ready to accept this principle, however, Director Koh recommended following the equidistance principle in establishing the territorial waters boundary in case the EEZ of two countries overlap. Ieodo is situated within Korea’s continental shelf and also that of China, but it is 75 nautical miles closer to Marado, a Korean island, than China.

Tsungyen Hui, research professor of the Asia Pacific Research Center of the Academia Sinai said at the seminar, “China’s claim over the sovereignty of all the areas surrounding its eastern and southern waters hinders the peace and stability of East Asia. China has the responsibility and also the capability to reduce tension and maintain peace in this area. It is also its responsibility in preventing the situations there from escalating into disputes.”

 

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