By Bonnie Glaser and Thomas Vien
For nearly two weeks in October, China halted all patrols in the contiguous zone of the Senkaku Islands. Why?
The Japanese Coast Guard (JCG) reported a highly unusual cessation of Chinese activity in the contiguous zone of the Senkaku (Diaoyu, in Chinese) islands in the East China Sea between October 4 and October 16. The contiguous zone is a band of water adjacent to the 12 nautical miles territorial sea that extends up to 24 nm beyond the baselines. In this zone, a nation may exercise the control necessary to prevent the infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territorial sea or territory, and punish infringement of those laws and regulations.
The total disappearance of Chinese patrols occurred shortly after a spike in activity in September, when the JCG reported sighting Chinese patrols in the contiguous zone on 27 days of the month. The number of Chinese ships totaled 110 in September — the highest number of Chinese ships present in the zone since November 2012, when Sino-Japanese tensions were at an all-time high following the purchase of three of the five islands by the Japanese government from a Japanese citizen two months earlier. The last time the JCG observed such an extended absence of Chinese patrols was this past February.
Historical data suggests that Chinese law enforcement ships maintain a fairly constant presence in the contiguous zone around the islands, which are administered by Japan but also claimed by China. Approximately every two weeks for the past year, China has dispatched a few vessels from the contiguous zone into the territorial waters to assert China’s sovereignty claim. Incursions into the territorial sea took place more frequently in the year following the transfer of ownership to the Japanese government, but settled into the pattern of two to three patrols per month beginning in October 2013. When cruising in the contiguous zone, Chinese vessels disperse with the onset of poor weather and return with calmer seas a few days later. While two typhoons crossed the East China Sea in October 2014, this does not appear to account for the entirety of the 13 day gap.