{"id":76483,"date":"2016-07-18T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=76483"},"modified":"2016-07-17T16:19:37","modified_gmt":"2016-07-17T15:19:37","slug":"how-the-hague-ruling-against-china-could-spell-trouble-for-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/07\/how-the-hague-ruling-against-china-could-spell-trouble-for-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Hague Ruling against China Could Spell Trouble for Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan has built structures on uninhabited rocks 1,740 km from Tokyo to mark its territory \u2013 just like China has done in the South China Sea.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Japan's<\/a>

Japan’s Kitakyushu Island SCS<\/p><\/div>\n

14 Jul 2016 – <\/em>Tokyo has been quick to applaud the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on Beijing\u2019s claims to reefs and atolls in the South China Sea, but experts warn that the ruling could come back to haunt Japan.<\/p>\n

Of particular concern, they point out, should be the court\u2019s ruling that the \u201cislands\u201d are little more than rocks that cannot support human habitation and economic life and cannot therefore be used to extend China\u2019s control over the region.<\/p>\n

Japan spends millions building structures on uninhabited rocks 1,740 km from Tokyo to mark its territory<\/a><\/p>\n

Beijing arguably learned the tactic of enlarging rocks that would otherwise be submerged at high tide from Japan, which has spent billions of yen on reinforcing and enlarging Okinotorishima. This tiny atoll, 1,740 km south of Tokyo extends Japan\u2019s exclusive economic zone over some 400,000 square km of the Pacific Ocean – larger than Japan\u2019s total land area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hague ruling completely delegitimises Japan\u2019s claim to those waters,\u201d said Stephen Nagy, an associate professor of politics at Tokyo\u2019s International Christian University.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder this ruling, if it was to be applied to Japan, then Japan would no longer have that EEZ,\u201d he told the South China Morning Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The newly created Nishinoshima island in the Ogasawara island chain, 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo<\/p><\/div>\n

Beijing has protested Japan\u2019s use of Okinotorishima to extend its EEZ in the past, but given that it is using a similar approach to forward its own territorial claims in the South China Sea, Nagy feels it is unlikely that Beijing will file a complaint with The Hague.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s Pacific claims fuelled by search for resources, Chinese expansionism<\/a><\/p>\n

South Korea and Taiwan, on the other hand, could very well do so.<\/p>\n

Seoul has sided with China in opposing Tokyo\u2019s claims on Okinotorishima, while Taiwan disputed Japan\u2019s rights earlier this year and dispatched coast guard cutters to protect fishing boats operating close to the island.<\/p>\n

By designating the EEZ that extends 200 nautical miles from Okinotorishima, Tokyo has given itself access to a vast area rich in fishing resources and – potentially more importantly – natural resources.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The seabed surrounding the island is believed to be littered with trillions of yen worth of resources.<\/p><\/div>\n

Japan is particularly keen to develop vast deposits of methane hydrates. A solid compound containing high levels of methane trapped in a crystal structure of water, methane hydrate is seen as an important source of energy in the future.<\/p>\n

Shintaro Ishihara, the man who stoked China-Japan tensions<\/a><\/p>\n

In February, the Japanese government announced that it was earmarking Y13 billion (HK$838.3 million) for rebuilding facilities on Okinotorishima. The territory covers a mere 9 square metres and, according to critics of Japan\u2019s claim to sovereignty, is only above water because two parts of the coral reef have been protected by concrete embankments and blocks to prevent them from disappearing beneath the waves for good.<\/p>\n

The Hague ruling completely delegitimises Japan\u2019s claim to those waters. — Stephen Nagy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Foreign Ministry in Tokyo reaffirmed its stance that Okinotorishima is an island and that the Hague ruling will have no impact on that designation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ruling in The Hague is not on the status of Okinotorishima and is binding on the two parties in the dispute, the Philippines and China,\u201d Kazumi Yamada, principle deputy director of the ministry\u2019s Oceans Division, said.<\/p>\n

She declined to speculate on another country taking the Okinotorishima case to The Hague.<\/p>\n

The one bright spot for Japan, Nagy suggested, would be over the question of the Senkaku islands, claimed by China, where the archipelago is known as the Diaoyus. Tokyo is likely to seize on the argument that it has sovereignty rights to the islands on the grounds that it has effectively managed the territory for most of the last 120 years.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________<\/p>\n

This article appeared in the<\/em> South China Morning Post print edition as: Hague leaves Tokyo between rock and hard place.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 scmp.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan has built structures on uninhabited rocks 1,740 km from Tokyo to mark its territory \u2013 just like China has done in the South China Sea. The Hague ruling completely delegitimises Japan\u2019s claim to those waters. — Stephen Nagy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}