A Chinese Foreign Ministry official said today that it could not recognize Ieodo, an underwater rock upon which is built Korea’s Ieodo Ocean Research Station, as Korean territory. The spokesman said that since Ieodo is an underwater rock, the country has never made a decision on jurisdiction.
China had raised objections while the research station was being constructed from 1995 to 2001. Last year, Chinese aircraft ran surveillance flights over the area.
Ordinarily, an undersea rock would mean didly-squat under the UN Law of the Sea, but since the surrounding area is apparently part of Korea’s continental shelf (according to the Hankyoreh report), there is ground for Seoul to claim it as Korean territory.
This has the potential to descend into Dokdo-levels of farce. More on this and Baekdusan later.
18 Comments
Idiocy! What an idiocy… As a matter of fact, all this might be seen as a Chinese counter-offensive, provoked by those irresponsible talks about Kando and “Manju uri ttang”. However, it seems that it is China that takes the lead now. Bad. The region full of the state-centered nationalisms of the 1912 vintage, combined with territorial claims: Tokdo-Koguryo-Leodo-Kando-Paektusan-N.Kurils-Senkaku-everywhere. Smells with Sarajevo, I am afraid.
Cool. Maybe they’ll claim it like they claimed Mischief Reef.
http://www.mediamax.com/sperwe.....ecious.wav
Dr. Lankov, I agree very much with you. The Chinese almost seem to need a war to keep their country focused on an enemy that is not the Chinese Communist Party. The next war will have “made in China” stamped on it, more than likely.
I suspect that South Korea does need some nukes and the means to deliver them so as keep China off their backs.
(1st time poster here)
What gets me is that from both the article, and from visiting the Dokdo exhibition at the National Museum, I notice that the Korean government measures distances from other islands closest to their disputed territories. This is against international law - the measurements must be taken from the mainland of the countries in question - that would make Dokdo a problem for Korea, and this Ieodo looks to be similarly shakey (I’m ignoring other issues - just the distance thing is my point today…).
The Ieodo controversies is analogous to 2 Japan/China related controversies
1) Uninhabited rock : Okinotori rock that Japan tried to build 2500 miles south of Tokyo
2) The “continental shelf claim” by China on East (China) Sea (not to be confused with East “Korean” Sea/Japan Sea)
China should recognize the continental shelf (since this is its argument in East (China) Sea). However, the point of the rock is that it establishes another 200 miles measuring from the rock (or middle line between the rock and china’s coast/continental shelf). So the boundary is different.
All the disputed islands—the Kuriles, Dokdo/Takeshima, Okinotori, Diaoyu/Senkaku, and now Ieodo too, it turns out, should just be placed under some kind of international control by a disinterested, landlocked party like Switzerland (not Bolivia, though: they still want coastline over a century after they lost it)…better throw in the Spratlys too…am I forgetting any? Then, draw the borders between the respective countries (Russia, Japan, South and North Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Phillipines, Malaysia, and Brunei all have a dog in one or more of these disputes) as if those islands didn’t exist. And better ban fishing within the neutral areas, too, or inevitably there’ll be disputes that one or another country’s citizens are overfishing.
Dr. Lankov, that’s rather ominous if the current situation reminds you of Sarajevo. Twice now, that unfortunate city has been a flashpoint for horrible atrocities.
Do you think—I’m being quite serious, and would like to know your opinion—that any of these (or other…China-Taiwan, for example) disputes could in fact descend into full-out fighting any time soon?
Korea should give up this isle to China and Dokto to Japan. Since the US will not defend Korea (an outcome caused by Korean Commies), Korea should beg and plead for mercy.
Koreans have become a local begger, and a punching bag.
All of a sudden after all those years China makes a territorial claim against Korea. The way the boys in Beijing do the business is very much like the way the boys of triads do: pure thuggery.
For a good deconstruction of the fictions underlying Korean nationalism, the introduction to Hyung Il Pai’s “Constructing Korean Origins” is well worth a read. The inevitable result of such psychological conditioning is a righteous anger that prompts governments to draw invisible lines based upon imaginary or questionable claims. Granted, any shooting incident between China and Korea will likely be quickly contained, but those relatively small number of lives lost will still have been wasted.
Have they? As far as I could see in the various articles on the subject, China hasn’t made any territorial claims. China may be making some rather dubious assertions about its EEZ in the area, but I’m fairly sure there’s some mischaracterizing going on here. After all, as far as I’ve ever heard, a submerged rock isn’t exactly something that can be claimed as territory. (And if it is, I call dibs on the Great Barrier Reef)
I have the feeling that there’s some sort of mischaracterization going on in the media here.
There is no reason for Russia to relinquish any of the Kuriles.
please elaborate, young Mr. Putin. I had thought that Japan’s claim had some legitimacy…
“As far as I could see in the various articles on the subject, China hasn’t made any territorial claims.”
It may not appear to be a territorial claim, but fundamentally it is, is it not?
Considering there’s no territory to claim, then no… it really isn’t.
The territory may not be seen above water, but the Chinese wish to make a claim in effect about the territory under the water.
Actually, (although I may be misunderstanding this) China’s beef seems to be over the installation being built in (what it asserts is) its EEZ. The actual existence of an undersea rock which is only even charted because it’s a navigational hazard is beside the point. Still not a territorial dispute, in my book.
4 Trackbacks
[...] Korea and China squabble over Ieodo (See also the Marmot’s post on the subject): China Chafes at Korean Observatory on Reef Island (Chosun) China Denies Korean Claim on Island (Dong-A) Seoul Snubs China’s Claim Over Ieo Islet (Times) [...]
[...] Ieodo, the undersea rock about which China has denied Korean claims of sovereignty (see also Chosun Ilbo), apparently goes by the name of Socotra Rock and Suyan Rock. [...]
[...] I might also point out — staying on message — that in addition to the regional dangers, this potentially explosive nationalism also indicates the dangers to the United States of entangling military alliances in the region. Does the United States want to go to war for Dokdo? Gando? How about Ieodo? [...]
[...] I might also point out — staying on message — that in addition to the regional dangers, this potentially explosive nationalism also indicates the dangers to the United States of entangling military alliances in the region. Does the United States want to go to war for Dokdo? Gando? How about Ieodo? [...]