ROK Coast Guard Commandos forcibly board Chinese fishing vessels found exploiting and ignoring South Korea's Exclusive Economic Zone on November 16th, 2011 (Source: Dong-a Ilbo / AFP - Getty Images)
This humble author set out to break down the most recent row between Korea and Japan, compiling what could easily have turned into a crazy 10,000 word opus on recent Chinese disregard for Exclusive Economic Zones. As the American Thanksgiving Holiday set in, he put aside his thoughts, writings, and research, instead focusing on eating turkey, drinking beer, and watching football.
After days of mashing the topic around in his head like the potatoes and gravy on too many plates of Thanksgiving leftovers, he came to the conclusion that simplicity would best serve this piece.
As such, this author asks that you look at the picture (more here as well) and caption above, one more time, noting the date of November 16, 2011. He then asks that you read the text below, published in KBS World on October 25th, 2011:
“The two nations (South Korea and China) have also agreed to ban fishing vessels from operating in the (EEZ) zone for three years if they are convicted of one of three serious illegal activities such as fishing without a permit, resisting arrest or trespassing in territorial waters.”
Congrats to China for lasting three whole weeks and hitting the full trifecta of serious illegal activities in one fell swoop!
This author will save a lengthy foray into this topic for future EEZ infringements, as he’s sure there will be future opportunities to tackle the subject. Until then, enjoy the hypocrisy!
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Craig was born & raised in the United States, having recently returned there after over five years in Asia. He is currently pursuing further education in the realms of East Asian Studies and Politics. Craig is an avid fan of the political, economic, and military machinations occurring throughout the Asian continent and how those turning gears affect the rest of the world. He's currently covering both North and South Korea for Asia Security Watch, enjoying shedding light on to this far-too-often ignored slice of Asia.
Craig Scanlan has 82 post(s) on Asia Security Watch
8 comments
Chinese F/Vs Resist S. Korean CG Enforcement - CGBlog.org says:
Dec 1, 2011
[...] Asia Security Watch comments by Craig Scanlan are here. [...]
Corey Wallace says:
Dec 7, 2011
This is something that should be treated with great care by the Chinese. The question of how territory and EEZs are defined, and the Chinese willingness to contest these, somewhat at times arbitrary and contradictory, rules is one thing and some flexibility may, perhaps even should be afforded. But the principle of effective control, and the privileges that accrue to those who hold clear and uncontested rights to territory and EEZs are anything but unclear and unagreedmupon and thus constitute genuine red lines that will turn countries against China very quickly.
Craig Scanlan says:
Dec 8, 2011
IMHO, the Chinese gov could crack down on such activities, but generally chooses not too as long as it doesn't effect the Beijing status quo directly. Imposing higher fines on fishermen, as is now the general ROK plan, is merely a band aide for a gaping wound.
Beijing may not realize or care about it's suffering image in these regards yet, but a quicker way to provoke action would be to find a path that forces them to act/crack down on their own fishermen directly.
Maybe South Korea should build some Beijing-reaching missiles ;-p
Lewis says:
Dec 11, 2011
"This author will save a lengthy foray into this topic for future EEZ infringements, as he’s sure there will be future opportunities to tackle the subject"
South Korean Officer Dies in Chinese Boat Skirmish http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204…
Well that certainly didn't take very long.
Craig Scanlan says:
Dec 11, 2011
There's a comment to that post that seems fairly convinced they're Chinese government operatives….
….I stand by thinking they're a bunch of uneducated, amoral idiots who don't understand boundaries and whose government doesn't care to show them…
….of course, it sure WOULD be more interesting news if we found out they were all a bunch of spies….
Lewis says:
Dec 11, 2011
That caught my attention as well. I puzzled over which seemed more likely, but eventually decided that whether the killer was operating under orders or adrenaline/nationalism doesn't really matter– it's unlikely that clear evidence will ever reveal itself either way, and all that really matters is the ROK response.
Craig Scanlan says:
Dec 12, 2011
I really just think it's more of Beijing's not bothering to control a situation than something created by them to further some national objective. They're just pirates basically…
The ROK response will probably depend on the public. For whatever deeply ingrained reason, they don't seem to riot in the streets like when US/Japan does ANYTHING WRONG. If South Koreans got legitimately riled up about what China did, maybe things would be different.
I believe that it's fairly impossible to tackle this problem at the fishermen's end, short of trying to blowing them away like North Korea does. The best actions would probably be getting Beijing's attention in a way that finally forces Beijing to act on their own and deal with it, AKA: Doing something that would raise some eyebrows in Beijing, as their fishermen killing Koreans seems to mostly bring a "boys will be boys" kind of response.
In my mind, it'd be a perfect time to tell Beijing they're really close to deciding to move forward with those ballistic missiles that factor Beijing into their ranges, but would be happy to pull back from that with a bit of assistance with a small problem they're having.
Maybe not that issue, but if South Korea wants to play on the big boy stage, they really need to stop following their Confucian values when it comes to treating China like their father and start showing some backbone.
Robert says:
Dec 12, 2011
There is nothing China gains by sponsoring this type of activity with SoKOR.I highly doubt that there is any official ties to this incident.China actually has reasons to not rile SoKor.The Norks are the biggest in my mind.China,in that particular area is very much in favor of the status quo. That is not the case in SCS and Senkakus. This I think was anindividual who although maybe highly nationalistic personally was probably off his rocker.I would think that China has in private already started damage control with SoKor.SoKor's response will be low key I think due to China's efforts.