Japan extends its sea territory by 177,000 sq km in line with UN ruling
Sovereign rights taken over two areas totalling 177,000 sq km in line with UN ruling, opening way to exploitation of fisheries and minerals
Tokyo has acted on a decision by a United Nations commission to approve a 177,000 sq km extension of its sovereignty claims to its continental shelf.
The newly claimed areas are identified as the Shikoku Basin Region and the Southern Oki-Daito Ridge Region. An ordinance adopted by the Japanese cabinet on Tuesday means Tokyo now has sovereign rights over the two areas, including fisheries and the exploitation of natural resources on the sea floor and beneath the seabed.
"The Japanese government has acted on a recommendation by the United Nations' Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf," Furubori said. "The committee's decision was based on scientific and geographical evidence, although they did reject other requests and postponed a decision on another sea area."
The rejected requests had sought to extend Japan's control over the Minami-Torishima Region and the Mogi Seamount, Furubori said. While Japan has the right to file a new request for control over the area with the UN committee, it has no plans to do so immediately.
A further two regions, the Ogasawara Plateau and the Minami-Iwo Island region covering an additional 131,000 sq km, will fall under Japanese jurisdiction after further negotiations with the United States, which has jurisdiction over nearby Guam. Washington is not expected to raise any objections to Japan incorporating the territories.
The delayed decision was in relation to the most controversial of all the seven areas that the committee was asked to consider, the vast Southern Kyushu-Palau Ridge Region.
It covers 252,000 sq km to the east of the Philippines and Japan's claim was controversially based on the area of continental shelf that extends from the tiny island of Okinotorishima.
Some 1,740km distant from Tokyo, the uninhabited island is the most southerly Japanese island. Halfway between Guam and Taiwan, it is little more than three concreted areas atop rocks surrounded by a coral reef. In total, the land area covers just 9 square metres.
But the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which administers the island, is investing US$7 million on improving the island's infrastructure, including the construction of a lighthouse and navigational facilities, while efforts have been under way for several years to propagate coral within the lagoon to make the atoll grow into an island.
China and South Korea have previously expressed their strong opposition to the UN recognising Okinotorishima as an island, and they insist that according to international maritime law, it is merely a reef and therefore cannot be used to extend Japan's continental shelf or exclusive economic zone for a further 200 nautical miles, as Tokyo wants.
"Okinotorishima is controversial and China and South Korea have both filed objections with the UN committee," Furubori admitted.
"Because of that, they have postponed a decision on the matter. But from our point of view, it is strange because they accepted the continental shelf of Okinotorishima to approve Japan's claim to the Shikoku Basin Region, to the north of the island, but not to the area to the south," he said.
There has been no immediate reaction to Japan's new claims from Beijing or Seoul, Furubori said, although analysts suggest that China's failure to speak out might be linked to the large-scale development work its engineers have carried out on a number of atolls in the South China Sea as it looks to enhance its own territorial claims.
Japan is taking the opportunities afforded by its seabed claims seriously, having already launched submarines designed to prospect for resources.
One of the most promising projects is the search for methane hydrates. Also known as natural gas hydrate or "fire ice", it is a solid compound in which high levels of methane have been trapped in a crystal structure of water.
