Yes, Tensions are Rising Between Japan and Taiwan (And it Really Matters)

Jerome A. Cohen, Peter A. Dutton

Security, Asia

What happens next is critical for all sides. Can a compromise be found? 

While tensions continue to rise in the South China Sea and the disputing governments nervously await a decision in the Philippines’ arbitration case against China, an important sideshow has arisen between Japan and Taiwan in the central Philippine Sea.

On April 24 Japan’s Coast Guard arrested a Taiwanese fishing vessel and its crew for fishing in waters that Japan claims are part of its 200-nautical mile ‘exclusive economic zone’ (EEZ) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Japan’s EEZ claim is based on its control over two tiny rocks surrounded by a coral reef more than 1000 miles south of Tokyo. Although Japanese military patrols began chasing Taiwanese fishing boats away from the area two years ago, this was reportedly the first actual detention since 2012.

The Taiwanese government lodged a strong protest against the recent Japanese action. To obtain the release of the ship and crew the Taiwanese ship-owner posted a security bond, in effect a fine, with the Japanese government. The incident infuriated public opinion in Taiwan.

The detention of the ship occurred some 150 nautical miles from the Okinotori islands in an area where as many as 200 Taiwanese fishing boats operated safely in the past. The influential Taiwan fishing community demanded the return of the security deposit, reimbursement for business losses incurred and an apology to the ship’s captain, who was allegedly subjected to a strip search.

Increasingly influential Taiwanese nationalists called for a strong reaction to Japan’s interference with Taiwanese perceived fishing rights in an area Taiwan deems to be part of the ‘high seas’ rather than Japan’s EEZ. President Ma Ying-jeou, himself an expert on the law of the sea, promptly dispatched several armed patrol boats to protect Taiwanese fishermen in the area, some 860 nautical miles away. Taiwan’s Coast Guard announced that it would follow a policy of “no evasion, no confrontation and no provocation” and hoped for a peaceful, rational solution. But it added that it would “take responsive measures” against any unfriendly Japanese actions.