Incursions, Innocent Passage, or Costly Signals: Chinese Activity in the East China Sea
Krista Wiegand, 2018
On July 4, China conducted another incursion of coast guard ships passing into Japanese waters in the East China Sea. In this case, the vessels passed through a contiguous zone, somewhere between 12-24 nautical miles from one of the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Japan’s response was to file a protest of illegal entry into Japanese waters. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga asserted that the islands are part of “Japan’s inherent territory in terms of history and international law,” remarking that the intrusion was “extremely deplorable and unacceptable.” A similar incident occurred on June 25, and so far 13 total such incursions have occurred in 2018.
If the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands are sovereign Chinese islands, as the Chinese government asserts, then China was just operating in its own waters. But given Japan’s long-standing control of the islands, it is fairly obvious that the vessels were operating with the goal of asserting the claim of sovereignty. If the islands are indeed legally Japanese islands, as the Japanese government asserts, then Chinese ships still have the right to pursue “innocent passage,” entering into Japanese waters. This includes passing through the 12 nautical miles of the territorial seas around the islands, the contiguous zones that comprise an additional 12 nautical miles, the EEZ, and the continental shelf zone, which can extend out hundreds of miles from the islands – as long as no exploration or exploitation of natural resources occurs.
