Bridging Troubled Waters: China, Japan, and Maritime Order in the East China Sea

by James Manicom

Sino-Japanese relations have been repeatedly strained by the territorial dispute over a group of small islands, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China. The rich fishing grounds, key shipping lanes, and perhaps especially, potentially rich oil deposits around the islands exacerbate this dispute in a confluence of resource pressures, growing nationalism, and rising military spending in the region.

Bridging Troubled Waters reminds us that the tensions over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands are only a part of a long history of both conflict and cooperation in maritime relations between Japan and China. James Manicom examines the cooperative history between China and Japan at sea and explains the conditions under which two rivals can manage disputes over issues such as territory, often correlated with war.

China and Japan appear incapable of putting history behind them, are poised on the brink of a strategic rivalry, and seem at risk of falling into an unintentional war over disputed maritime claims. Bridging Troubled Waters challenges this view by offering a case-by-case analysis of how China and Japan have managed maritime tensions since the dispute erupted in 1970. The author advances an approach that offers a trade-off between the most important stakes in the disputed maritime area with a view to establishing a stable maritime order in the East China Sea. The book will be of interest to policymakers, academics, and regional specialists in Asia, security studies, and international conflict and cooperation.

240 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2014

Reviews

[Daniel Simmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here in East Asia there has been plenty of hysteria over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands ownership issue -- as China's maritime power projection increases, the Japanese are wary of Chinese intentions in the waters that separate the two nations. This book grounds Sino-Japanese maritime friction in case examples that bring historical facts and sane analysis to an oft-sensationalized issue, and its conclusions are surprisingly optimistic about the possibility of continued cooperation between the two countries. This book could be tedious on (more than one) occasion, but it was also refreshing. Time will tell whether or not it is also naïve.

[Meihan Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost covered the complete course of events of the evolvement of the Japan-China Joint Development, first fisheries, then marine survey, and at last on hydrocarbon resources. The conclusion deserves an A+.