Beijing carried out missions in the waters east of Taiwan to reinforce territorial sovereignty; Japan and Philippines discuss borders
Beijing has reinforced the presence of Chinese vessels in the waters east of Taiwan. In the last two weeks, at least two expeditions were carried out in the region with the aim of projecting their sovereignty in the region, which became the scope of negotiations between Japan and the Philippines.
The context is as follows: the Japanese and Philippine governments agreed 3 weeks ago that they were going to start negotiations on border disputes between the 2 countries in the Pacific Ocean. They do not directly border, but as they have the right to design an exclusive economic zone that extends 200 nautical miles (370 km or 230 miles) from their coasts, these zones lie close to Taiwan.
It was an announcement that upset both China and Taiwan. The island’s government expressed concern about what this delimitation will be like and reported that it contacted authorities from both countries to understand the details of this negotiation. Beijing, which considers Taiwan an integral part of its territory – therefore its waters are also Chinese – responded that the zone under negotiation is Chinese sovereignty and will not enter into any agreement between Japan and the Philippines.
EXPEDITIONS
On June 6, China sent 4 vessels to the east of Taiwan to establish a position.
On Tuesday (June 16), China organized an expedition to carry out an environmental survey in the region to “obtain a complete understanding of the natural ecological conditions of the maritime areas under the country’s jurisdiction”.
Chinese state media reported the scientific mission as part of “territorial spatial planning of waters east of Taiwan”, precisely when the region entered negotiations between Japan and the Philippines.
This temporal coincidence is highlighted by the Chinese state media itself, which reports on the strategy of repelling the ambitions of neighboring countries over the territory.
“It is important to highlight that Japan and the Philippines have recently bypassed China by initiating so-called maritime delimitation negotiations, which aim to manipulate issues within the exclusive economic zones. Through bilateral agreements, the Philippines and Japan seek to establish fait accompli in Chinese waters and violate China’s legitimate maritime rights and interests.”wrote the Chinese state newspaper Global Times.
JAPAN-PHILIPPINES ALLIANCE
The relationship between Japan and the Philippines is not limited to negotiations over exclusive trade zones. In recent months, the governments of the two countries have also made moves in other fields, with emphasis on the military sector, which includes the sale of weapons from Japan to the Philippines.
After the government of (Liberal Democratic Party, right) made the country’s arms exports more flexible, the Philippines turned to the country to negotiate the purchase of military equipment.
An already advanced business between the two is the sending of ships of the destroyer and TC-90 aircraft produced by Japan to the Philippines. It will be the first sale of military items from Japan to any country since .
