Foreign Affairs.
Last month, Japanese activists planted their country's flag on one of
the Senkaku Islands (which the Chinese call the Diaoyu Islands), a
chain claimed by China, Japan, and Taiwan. The move sparked protests in
China and inspired headlines in the West, but the provocation was hardly
surprising. The three bodies of water in East Asia -- the Sea of Japan
(bounded by Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia), the East China
Sea (bordered by China and Japan's Ryukyu Islands), and the South China
Sea (surrounded by Borneo, China, the Philippines, and Vietnam) -- are
home to hundreds of disputed islands, atolls, and shoals. And in the
last few years, the diplomatic and militaristic struggles to assert
authority have become increasingly brazen.
On one level, patriotism is making things worse. Japan's tussle with
China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, for example, is a touchstone for
those in Japan who fear China's growing political and economic might.
Likewise, South Korea's assertion of control over the Dokdo Islands
(known as the Takeshima Islands in Japan) is viewed at home as a
patriotic riposte to Japan's 40-year occupation of the peninsula.
Beyond symbolism, however, these three bodies of water flow over East
Asia's Outer Continental Shelf and the submerged deltas of many major
river systems -- geological features that suggest the presence of vast
deposits of oil and natural gas. Yet, although the resources have been
there for millennia, it is only in the last decade that the energy
sector has even started to develop extractive technologies that will
eventually make these reserves accessible.
