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| Japanese & Chinese Coast Guard Ships in the East China Sea |
By Ankit Panda
Japan and China will agree to exclude territorial waters and airspace from their maritime crisis management mechanism.
While tensions in the South China Sea continue to heat up between China and the other claimants, the China-Japan dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea remains relatively cool. As The Diplomat has noted recently, China and Japan are in the middle of a slow-but-sure thaw in the area and are looking to finalize a bilateral liaison mechanism to manage maritime crises and prevent unintentional escalation.
Diplomatic momentum toward a bilateral consultative mechanism began in 2012, but was derailed by a general rise in tensions over the disputed islands in 2013. The dispute reached a tipping point when China unilaterally declared an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over disputed waters in the East China Sea in November 2013. Since January 2015, however, the overall process has been constructive.
This week, reports emerged that the maritime liaison mechanism between the two governments will exclude territorial waters and territorial airspace. The primary effect of this provision will be that the disputed islands will be excluded from the crisis management mechanism. The exclusion will be noted in a written agreement, and Japan and China are expected “to start operating the mechanism this summer at the earliest,” according to the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Read the full story at The Diplomat