Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-lrf7s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T04:18:58.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Governing a Troubled Relationship: Can the Field of Fisheries Breed Sino-Japanese Cooperation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2013

CHISAKO T. MASUO*
Affiliation:
Kyushu Universitymasuo@scs.kyushu-u.ac.jp

Abstract

Since the boat clash incident in September 2010, tensions have persisted between Japan and China over the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Although territorial issues can easily become national symbols and used against other countries, nationalism hampers diplomatic concessions essential for diverse international resolutions. Greater the attention the public pays to such issues, lesser the room governments have for maneuvering. The Japanese and Chinese administrations will find it difficult to extricate themselves from the current deadlock if each party merely continues to assert its sovereignty over the islands. This study examines the possibility of expanding both countries’ common interests in the East China Sea by focusing on the fisheries issues that triggered the 2010 incident. Japan and China have not fulfilled their obligation – as stipulated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – to conserve biological resources in their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). The New Japan–China Fisheries Agreement (2000) established vast special water zones in the middle of the East China Sea instead of demarking the EEZs between the two countries. However, the Joint Fisheries Committee established in accordance with the agreement has not worked to prevent overexploitation and to maintain sustainable development of fishery stocks in the zones. Thus, this paper proposes that Japan and China launch an initiative for effective control of fishing resources in the East China Sea, most preferably in collaboration with related neighboring parties.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anami, Yusuke (2012), ‘Senryaku-teki Gokei Kankei no Mosaku to Higashi-Shina-kai Mondai, 2006–2008 (A Search for Strategic and Mutually Beneficial Relations and Problems on East Asia Sea, 2006–2008)’, in Akio, Takahara and Ryuji, Hattori (eds.), Nitchu-kankei-shi, 1972–2012, I, Seiji (A History of Japan–China Relations, 1972–2012, I, Politics), Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, pp. 443–85 (Chinese edition forthcoming).Google Scholar
Barboza, David (2007), ‘China's Seafood Industry: Dirty Water, Dangerous Fish’, New York Times, 15 December.Google Scholar
Chen, Stephen (2012), ‘All Fished out but Hungry for More: Pollution and Fish Farming Have Turned China's Inshore Waters into a Strip of Death, but with Demand for Seafood Soaring, Fishermen are Venturing into Disputed Waters’, South China Morning Post, 1 August.Google Scholar
Cho, Koi (Zhao Hongwei) (2010), ‘Nitchu no “Bunmei no Shototsu”: Ko Takumin to Ko Kinto no Jidai (“Clash of Civilizations” between Japan and China: The Eras of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao)’, in Hongwei, Zhaoet al., Chugoku Gaiko no Sekai Senryaku (World Strategy on Chinese Diplomacy), Tokyo: Akashi Shoten, 2010, pp. 5072.Google Scholar
Ketizu, Guojia Haiyangju Haiyang Fazhan Zhanluesuo ed. (2011) Zhongguo Haiyang Fazhan Baogao (Chinese Oceanic Development Report), Beijing: Haiyang Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Hagstrom, Linus (2006), ‘Quiet Power: Japan's China Policy in Regard to the Pinnacle Islands’, The Pacific Review, 18, 2: 159–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Honda, Ryoichi (2012), ‘Mitsuryo no Umi de (In the Sea of Poaching)’, in Akihiro, Iwashita (ed.), Nihon no ‘Kokkyo Mondai’: Gemba kara Kangaeru (Japanese ‘Border Issues’: Considerations from the Front Lines), Tokyo: Fujiwara Shoten, pp. 102–14.Google Scholar
Inoguchi, Takashi and Miyatake, Nobuharu (1978), ‘The Politics of Decrementalism: The Case of Soviet–Japanese Salmon Catch Negotiations, 1957–1977’, Behavioral Science, 23: 457–69.Google Scholar
Inoguchi, Takashi and Miyatake, Nobuharu (1979), ‘Negotiation as Quasi-Budgeting: The Salmon Catch Negotiations between the World Fishery Powers’, International Organization, 33, 2: 229469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ji, Ying, Jiangshan, Yu, and Chen, Chen (2012), ‘Yingdui Haiyang Yuye Guodu Pulao de Duice Tantao (Searching for the Measures to Deal with Excessive Fishing in the Sea)’, Heilongjiang Keji Xinxi (Heilongjiang Information on Science and Technics), 2012–9: 122 and 58.Google Scholar
Katano, Ayumu (2012a), ‘“Tairyo” Agameru Bunka: Rankaku to Boraku no “Aka-shingo” wo Tomerarenai Seido (The Culture that Worships “Big Fish Hauls”: A System that Cannot Catch the “Red-Light” for Overexploitations and Price-falls)’, in Wedge Infinity, 19 June 2012, http://wedge.ismedia.jp/articles/-/1990?page+1.Google Scholar
Katano, Ayumu (2012b), ‘Torenai, Urenai, Yasui: Shinkoku na Jitai ni Chokumen suru Nihon no Gyogyo (Can't Fish, Can't Sell and Inexpensive: Japanese Fisheries Faced with Serious Situations)’, in Wedge Infinity, 15 May 2012, http://wedge.ismedia.jp/articles/-/1880.Google Scholar
Kataoka, Chikashi (2009), ‘Isei Sokobiki-ami, Isei Trawl Gyogyo no Sengo-shi II (History of the Trawl Fisheries in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea after the Second World War, Vol. II)’, Nagasaki Daigaku Suisan Gakubu Kenkyu Hokoku, 90: 1941.Google Scholar
Katsukawa, Toshio (2012), Gyogyo to iu Nihon no Mondai (Fisheries as a National Agenda for Japan), Tokyo: NTT Shuppan.Google Scholar
Kawasaki, Tsuyoshi (2005), Gyogyo Shigen: Naze Kanri Dekinai noka (Fishing Resources: Why Can't They Be Controlled?), 2nd edition, Tokyo: Seizando Shoten.Google Scholar
Kazankai, (2008), Nitchu-Kankei Kihon Shiryo-shu: 1972 nen-2008nen (Basic Documents on Japan–China Relations: 1972–2008), 2008, Tokyo: Kazankai.Google Scholar
Li, Jingyu, Wei, Zhao et. (2010), Zhongguo Haiyang Jingji Kaifalun: Cong Haiyang Quyu Jingji Kaifa dao Haiyang Chanye Jinji Kaifa de Zhanlue Daoxiang (Development of Chinese Marine Economy: Strategic Orientation from a Marine Regional Economy to Marine Industrial Economy), Beijing: Gaodeng Jiaoyu Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Love, Patrick (2010), ‘Fisheries: Common Wealth?’, in Fisheries: While Stocks Last?, OECD Publishing, pp. 126–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maeda, Toshikatsu (2011), ‘Higasi-Shina-kai no Dai-chu-gata Makiami Gyogyo: Shigen Kanri to Anzen Sogyo Taisei no Kakuritsu (The Large Scale Purse Seine Fishery of Japan in the East China Sea: Fisheries Resource Management and Ensuring Secure Operations)’, Nippon Suisan Gakkaishi, 77, 4: 702–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masuo, Chisako (2011), ‘Nihon to Chugoku (Japan and China)’, in Minohara, Toshihiro (ed.), Zero-nendai, Nihon no Judai Ronten: Gaiko Anzen-hosho de Yomitoku (Significant Issues for Japan in the 2000s: Questions in Diplomacy and Security), Tokyo: Kashiwa Shobo.Google Scholar
Miyoshi, Masahiro (2006), ‘Nitchu kan no Haitateki Keizai Suiiki to Tairiku-dana no mondai (Issues on the Exclusive Economic Zones and Continental Shelf between Japan and China)’, in Tadao, Kuribayashi and Masahiro, Akiyama (eds.), Umi no Kokusai Chitsujo to Kaiyo Seisaku (International Oceanic Order and Sea Policy), Tokyo: Toshindo, pp. 257–81.Google Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics of China (2011), China Statistical Yearbook 2011, Beijing: ChinaStatistics Press.Google Scholar
Ning, Ling (ed.) (2009), Haiyang Zonghe Guanli yu Zhengce (Comprehensive Management and Policy on the Ocean), Beijing: Kexue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Ogura, Kazuo (1979), ‘How the “Inscrutables” Negotiate with the “Inscrutables”; Chinese Negotiating Tactics vis-à-vis the Japanese’, China Quarterly, 79 (September): 529–52.Google Scholar
Tang, Jianye, Jianguo, Zhang, and Tiewu, Zhao (2009), ‘Goujian Woguo Haiyang Pulaoquan Zhidu de Fenxi (Analyses on the establishment of marine fishing rights regimes in China)’, Suichan Xuebao (Journal of Fisheries in China), no. 2009–3: 173–8.Google Scholar
Tokimura, Muneharu (2011), ‘Higashi-Shina-kai no Suisan Shigen to Gyogyo Keitai (Fisheries and their Resources in the East China Sea)’, Nippon Suisan Gakkaishi, 77, 5: 919–23.Google Scholar
United Nations (1982), United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf.Google Scholar
Yamashita, Haruko (2009), Sakana no Keizaigaku (Economics of Fish), Tokyo: Nippon Hyoron Sha.Google Scholar
Yan, Liping, Jiansheng, Li, Jianzhong, Ling, et al. (2005), ‘Donghaiqu Haiyang Yuye Ziyuan Jinkuang Qianxi (Analysis on Recent Status of the Fishery Resources in the East China Sea)’, Zhejiang Haiyang Xueyuan Xuebao (Ziran Keyueban) (Journal of Zhejiang Ocean University, Natural Science edition), 24, 4 (December): 303–7.Google Scholar
Yi, Chuanjian (2012), ‘Woguo Jinhai Yuye Guanli Fangshi de Youhua he Gaijin: Jiyu Zhengfu Guizhi Yanjiu de Shijiao (Improvements and Upgrades on Coastal Fishing Control Measures in China: From an Angle of Governmental Regulation Studies)’, Shehui Kexuejia (Social Scientist), 181 (May): 54–8.Google Scholar
Zhang, Jian and Teligenbaiyi, Bao (2009), ‘Woguo Shishi TAC Zhidu Mianlin de Wenti Ji Zhengce Jianyi (Policy Proposal for China to Implement the TAC System)’, Qilu Yuye (Shandong Fisheries), 26, 1: 4851.Google Scholar