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Background Brief: China: Similarities and Differences between the East China and South China Seas Carlyle A. Thayer September 20, 2012

[client name deleted] Currently, tensions have risen in the East China Sea and surpassed tensions in the South China Sea. Can you provide an assessment of the similarities and differences in how China approaches territorial disputes with Japan with how Chian approaches territorial disputes with ASEAN claimant states. ANSWER: There are more similarities than differences in Chinas approach to territorial disputes in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. The main difference in the East Sea is that China claims sovereignty over specific features, such as the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, and not the entire sea. In the South China Sea China claims sovereignty over every island and rock and all the waters inside its nine-dash line. Chinas claims to sovereignty in the East China Sea and South China Sea can be settled by legal means through international law and international arbitration by the countries directly concerned. But Chinas claims to historic rights to the waters in the South China Sea cannot be settled by legal means since they are not based on international law. A second difference is that China is more willing to use intimidation and force against weaker states. In disputed waters . Chinese ships have cut the cables of exploration vessels in Vietnams EEZ, chased away an exploration vessel in Philippines waters, and fired upon fishermen from both countries. China does not dare to directly challenge Japan in the same way in disputed waters, instead it has allowed rioters to attack Japanese companies operating in China and to burn Japanese cars in public. China has also allowed large scale demonstrations outside the Chinese Embassy in Beijing. As for similarities, China has reacted to what it views as a challenge to its sovereignty over islands in the East China Sea and the South China Sea by lodging an official protest and orchestrating a media campaign against Japan and the Philippines. Second, China conducts assertions of its sovereignty by deploying its marine surveillance and fishery enforcement ships to contested waters such as Scarborough Shoal and the Senkaku islands. Third, China has used domestic legislation and other legal means to advance its legal claim to sovereignty. For example, China tabled a protest against the joint MalaysiaVietnam submission and Vietnams submission to the UN Commission on Limits of

2 the Continental Shelf. China also tabled its 9-dash line u-shaped map to claim the South China Sea. China recently promulgated base points and baselines around the Senkaku-Diaoyu islands and presented these to the office of the UN Secretary General. Fourth, China has also mobilized nationalist sentiment against Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines. TThis has varied in intensity with anti-Japan demonstrations being larger and more violent than smaller demonstrations against Vietnam and the Philippines. China has also permitted its citizens to use the internet to attack Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines even to the extent of launching cyberattacks. Fifth, China has also mobilized its fishermen to swarm into disputed waters to create complications for the Philippines at Scarborough Shoal, and permitted Hong Kong residents to land on one of Senkaku islands to plant the Chinese flag. Finally, China has used both economic sanctions and the threat of economic sanctions against the Philippines and Japan. China suspended the import of Philippine bananas and other tropical fruit to pressure the Philippines government. China in the past has cancelled the export of rare earths to Japan and recently reduced the number of export licenses. Chinese think tanks have begun examining how to apply targeted economic sanctions against Japan. Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, China: Similarities and Differences between the East China and South China Seas, Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, September 20, 2012. Thayer Consultancy Background Briefs are archived and may be accessed at: http://www.scribd.com/carlthayer.

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