China submits oceanic claims to United Nations

China provided the United Nations with detailed claims to waters in the East China Sea on Friday, apparently padding out its legal argument in an ongoing territorial dispute with Japan.

The Foreign Ministry said it submitted documents claiming waters extending beyond its 370-kilometre exclusive economic zone. It said geological features dictated that China’s claim extended to the edge of the continental shelf off the Chinese coast, about 200 kilometres from Japan’s Okinawa Island.

A statement posted to the Foreign Ministry’s website gave no specifics, but China had pledged to make such a submission shortly after Japan angered China by buying the islands from their private Japanese owners.

Violent anti-Japanese protests then broke out across China to assert what many Chinese believe is their country’s ages-old claim on the rocky outcrops, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Taiwan also claims it. 

China’s move is a way for it to underscore its claim, but will have little real impact. The U.N. commission to which it submitted its claim, which comprises geological experts, evaluates the markers on technical grounds but has no authority to resolve overlapping claims.

The UN submission represents one aspect of China’s approach to the dispute. Another involves dispatching vessels to patrol in the area and confront Japanese coastguard ships.