Island Grabbing

Until recently, Asian countries’ competing claims in the seas around China did not cause outright conflict. But now that drilling technology can tap gas and oil beds there, Asia capitals are stepping up their games.

Island Grabbing in Asia
Why the South China Seas are So Tense
By Michael T. Klare, Foreign Affairs

Last month, Japanese activists planted their country’s flag on one of the Senkaku Islands (which the Chinese call the Diaoyu Islands), a chain claimed by China, Japan, and Taiwan. The move sparked protests in China and inspired headlines in the West, but the provocation was hardly surprising. The three bodies of water in East Asia — the Sea of Japan (bounded by Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia), the East China Sea (bordered by China and Japan’s Ryukyu Islands), and the South China Sea (surrounded by Borneo, China, the Philippines, and Vietnam) — are home to hundreds of disputed islands, atolls, and shoals. And in the last few years, the diplomatic and militaristic struggles to assert authority have become increasingly brazen.

On one level, patriotism is making things worse. Japan’s tussle with China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, for example, is a touchstone for those in Japan who fear China’s growing political and economic might. Likewise, South Korea’s assertion of control over the Dokdo Islands (known as the Takeshima Islands in Japan) is viewed at home as a patriotic riposte to Japan’s 40-year occupation of the peninsula.

Beyond symbolism, however, these three bodies of water flow over East Asia’s Outer Continental Shelf and the submerged deltas of many major river systems — geological features that suggest the presence of vast deposits of oil and natural gas. Yet, although the resources have been there for……[access full article]