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The East China Sea

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Resource Management and Contested Territories in East Asia

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Abstract

This chapter studies the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute involving Japan, China and Taiwan.1 Sovereignty, nationalism and access to natural resources are found to be at the core of the territorial dispute. The chapter examines how the dynamics of the dispute have been informed by the quest for natural resources and it assesses the prospect for their joint development. It notes that China and Japan have at least succeeded in reaching a fisheries agreement and an ‘in-principle consensus’ (although never implemented) on joint gas development in a disputed area of the East China Sea. The chapter concludes, however, that the recent escalation of tensions and the absence of a regional conflict management mechanism have severely complicated the joint management of resources in the East China Sea.

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Notes

  1. Parts of this chapter draw from R. Emmers (2010) Geopolitics and Maritime Territorial Disputes in East Asia (London: Routledge), pp. 48–51, 57–60.

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    1. Ralf Emmers
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    © 2013 Ralf Emmers

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    Emmers, R. (2013). The East China Sea. In: Resource Management and Contested Territories in East Asia. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137310149_4

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