They are two uninhabitable rocks in the middle of the Pacific. For China they are that. For Japan they are a treasure. Their interest is so great that in recent years spent more than 600 million dollars in order to protect them, according to Gizmodo. What is the secret of this remote enclave that is located more than 1,600 km from Tokyo?
These two islets in Japan that They do not reach 10 square meters They are located within the Okinotori Atoll and are located halfway between Taiwan and the US territory of Guam.
The atoll measures only 4.5 km from east to west and 1.7 km from north to south, but its importance to Japan is that it serves as a economic and strategic key point among disputes over Chinese military activity in the region.
Ten years ago, Japan spent $100 million to rebuild an observation post in the enclave, a move that reignited a long-running dispute over maritime territory between Tokyo and Beijing.
While China never claimed Okinotori, Japan’s decision to devote such large sums to maintaining the atoll is not welcome in Beijing, as the area contains rich fishing grounds, potentially huge deposits of oil and other energy resources, as well as rare metals.
Hence, its status as an island under International Law, which is in dispute between China and other countries, provides Japan with an Exclusive Economic Zone around the same areas. more than 430,000 km².
An area of dispute
Beijing has long insisted that Okinotorishima includes rocks, not islands, uninhabitable and, therefore, should not be used by Japan to expand its exclusive economic zone.
For its part, the United Nations Convention on Maritime Law defines an island as «a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, and which is above water at high tide». The convention also states that «rocks that cannot support human habitation or economic life by themselves shall not have an exclusive economic zone.»
What did Japan do to achieve island status then? He developed a plan to make the area artificial islands with thousands of tons of sand and cement while it has tried to prevent existing coral beds disappear under the ocean.
Since the 1980s, Japan has spent more than $600 million building steel breakwaters and cement decks to prevent erosion of the two islets that jut out of the water at low tide. A third islet visible is covered by a titanium net to protect it from debris created by waves. Furthermore, he built a three-story observatory from which ships in the area are monitored and data collected from the area.
GML
