What strategic position do the East China Sea and the Senkaku Islands occupy in China’s Belt and Road Initiative and maritime expansion?
Written on August 3, 2020, this article examines the continuing activities of China Coast Guard vessels, China’s claims concerning the Senkaku Islands, the 2013 Japan–Taiwan Fisheries Arrangement, and the need for closer cooperation between Japan and Taiwan.

August 3, 2020
This article follows the preceding chapter on China’s First and Second Island Chain strategies and its creation of faits accomplis in the South China Sea.
It considers how China’s broader maritime strategy is connected to the East China Sea and the Senkaku Islands.
In 2013, Xi Jinping proposed the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the Twenty-First-Century Maritime Silk Road.
Official Chinese policy documents describe the principal routes of the Maritime Silk Road as extending from China’s coast through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean to Europe, and from China’s coast through the South China Sea to the South Pacific.
The statement in the original article that the East China Sea is a principal route from Chinese ports to the wider world should therefore be understood not as a quotation from China’s official route map, but as the author’s strategic analysis connecting China’s eastern and northern ports, its naval advance into the Pacific, the First Island Chain, and the geographical position of the Senkaku Islands.
The Government of Japan maintains that the Senkaku Islands are an inherent part of Japanese territory in light of historical facts and international law, that they are under Japan’s valid control, and that no issue of territorial sovereignty exists to be resolved.
Key Quotation
“In the Belt and Road Initiative, passage through the East China Sea is a principal route for China’s ports to reach the wider world. China therefore seeks to contain Japan and bring the East China Sea under its control.”
Full Text
August 3, 2020
In the Belt and Road Initiative, passage through the East China Sea is a principal route for China’s ports to reach the wider world.
China therefore seeks to contain Japan and bring the East China Sea under its control.
The following is a continuation of the preceding chapter.
The Senkaku Islands Are a Strategic Pivot of the Belt and Road Initiative
Since assuming office, President Xi Jinping has proclaimed the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
He seeks to establish China’s supremacy in the world, recalling the fifteenth century, when China dominated the Silk Road across the Eurasian continent and opened maritime routes extending from China to North Africa.
The method by which he seeks to accomplish this is the Belt and Road Initiative.
China prospered as a continental power and possesses enormous influence over the land routes known as the “Belt.”
On the seas, however, it has lagged behind the maritime powers of Japan and the United States.
China has therefore spent many years steadily expanding the waters under its control.
In the Belt and Road Initiative, passage through the East China Sea is a principal route for China’s ports to reach the wider world.
China therefore seeks to contain Japan and bring the East China Sea under its control.
The Senkaku Islands stand at the pivot of the fan-shaped East China Sea and constitute a strategic point of the Belt and Road Initiative.
China’s plan to seize the Senkaku Islands has been advanced steadily and methodically.
As a result, China Coast Guard vessels are now constantly navigating the waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands and behaving as though those waters were already “Chinese seas.”
Regrettably, the Japan Coast Guard has not been able to prevent the movements of these Chinese vessels.
China has also come to proclaim openly that the Senkaku Islands are Chinese territory.
The concept of “shelving the issue,” which Deng Xiaoping advocated during the negotiations for the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China, no longer exists.
China has entered the final stage of its effort to bring the Senkaku Islands—and ultimately the East China Sea—completely under its control.
During the presidency of Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang, groups in Taiwan acted in solidarity with activists from mainland China.
Their activities in Taiwan, however, largely subsided after Japan and Taiwan concluded the Japan–Taiwan private-sector fisheries arrangement in 2013, partially allowing Taiwanese fishermen to operate in areas of the East China Sea.
Beginning with former President Lee Teng-hui, many informed people in Taiwan recognize that the Senkaku Islands are Japanese territory.
One possible course would therefore be for Japan and Taiwan to cooperate in considering the practical use of the Senkaku Islands.
To be continued.
Notes on Sources and Terminology
The original Japanese text dated August 3, 2020, has been reproduced without alteration.
Official Chinese policy documents describe the Twenty-First-Century Maritime Silk Road as extending from China’s coast through the South China Sea and Indian Ocean to Europe, and through the South China Sea to the South Pacific.
They also identify the development of smooth, secure and efficient transport routes connecting major ports as a priority of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The Government of Japan maintains that the Senkaku Islands are an inherent part of Japanese territory under international law and historical fact and that no issue of territorial sovereignty exists to be resolved.
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that China Coast Guard and other Chinese government vessels enter the contiguous zone around the Senkaku Islands almost every day except during stormy weather and repeatedly intrude into Japanese territorial waters.
The Japan Coast Guard continues to publish detailed daily records of these activities.
The Japan–Taiwan private-sector fisheries arrangement was signed on April 10, 2013, by the respective private-sector bodies responsible for Japan–Taiwan relations.
It established waters in which the two sides would refrain from applying their respective fisheries laws, a special cooperation zone, and a joint commission for managing fisheries matters.