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The Yomiuri Shimbun
Take all possible steps to protect marine resources of Japan’s EEZ
沖ノ鳥島ＥＥＺ　海洋権益の保護強化に努めよ

Japan, as a maritime nation, faces the crucial challenge of how effectively to protect its interests in its vast exclusive economic zone. The government must make all-out efforts to come up with concrete steps to protect the zone.
　広大な排他的経済水域（ＥＥＺ）の権益をいかに効果的に守るかは、海洋国家である日本が直面する重要課題だ。政府は具体的な保護策に万全を期さねばならない。

Taiwan authorities have protested the seizure in late April of a Taiwan fishing boat by the Japan Coast Guard in the Japanese EEZ around Okinotorishima, the southernmost islands of Japan, and have sent three vessels, including patrol ships, to the area near the islets, which are part of the village of Ogasawara, Tokyo. The vessels are likely to remain inside the EEZ, for the time being, under the pretext of protecting Taiwan’s fishing boats.
　日本最南端の沖ノ鳥島（東京都小笠原村）のＥＥＺで４月下旬、海上保安庁に台湾漁船が拿捕だほされたことについて、台湾当局が抗議し、巡視船など３隻を派遣している。漁船保護を名目に、当面、ＥＥＺにとどまるという。

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida protested the dispatch of patrol ships, saying, “It’s extremely regrettable that Taiwan sent patrol ships into the Japanese EEZ despite our request that they remain outside.” It was quite natural for Kishida to call on Taipei to have the ships leave the EEZ.
　岸田外相が、台湾の巡視船について、日本の「申し入れにかかわらず入域させたことは極めて遺憾だ」と述べ、台湾側に出域させるよう求めたのは当然である。

Japan’s combined area of territorial waters and EEZ is the sixth largest in the world. Okinotorishima has an EEZ of about 400,000 square meters, which is slightly larger than Japan’s land area, and is blessed with abundant fishery and seabed resources. These are very important marine interests.
　日本の領海とＥＥＺの合計面積は世界６位だ。中でも沖ノ鳥島は、日本の国土面積をやや上回る約４０万平方キロのＥＥＺを有し、豊かな水産・海底資源をもたらす。非常に大切な海洋権益である。

Japan takes this stand: “Okinotorishima has been recognized as isles under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Thus, an EEZ exists around them.” Japan has contended that two of the Okinotorishima islets remain above sea level even at high tide and therefore are not “rocks” around which an EEZ cannot be set.
　日本は「国連海洋法条約上、沖ノ鳥島は島としての地位が確立している。ＥＥＺは存在する」との立場だ。沖ノ鳥島の二つの小島は満潮時も海面に出ていることなどから、ＥＥＺを設定できない「岩」ではないとしている。

Sudden change of stance

In the wake of the JCG’s seizure of the Taiwan fishing boat, the Taiwan administration of President Ma Ying-jeou suddenly began to claim that the Okinotorishima islets are nothing but “rocks.” We cannot accept this one-sided view.
　だが、漁船の拿捕を受けて、台湾の馬英九政権は突然、沖ノ鳥島は「岩」だと唱え始めた。こうした一方的見解は容認できない。

Since around 2004, China has asserted that the Okinotorishima islets are “rocks.” So has South Korea. Taiwan, on the other hand, had not clarified its position on the matter.
　中国が２００４年頃から、「岩」だと主張し、韓国も同調しているが、台湾は曖昧にしてきた。

Taiwan's abrupt move to change its position ahead of a change of administration on May 20 is questionable. We suspect that Ma is seeking to maintain his influence after leaving office by inciting Taiwan’s public opinion on the matter.
　今月２０日の政権交代を前に、馬政権が態度を一変させたのは、疑問だ。台湾の世論を煽あおり、退任後も影響力を保ちたいという馬総統の思惑があるのではないか。

Japan must try to resolve the issue by holding talks with Taiwan’s incoming administration led by Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party, which attaches importance to relations with Tokyo.
　日本は、対日重視方針を示している民進党の新政権と対話し、事態の収拾を図らねばならない。

From the viewpoint of China, the Okinotorishima islets are located at a median point between what it calls the first island chain ranging from Japan’s Nansei Islands to the Philippines and the second island chain extending from the Ogasawara Islands to Guam. The Chinese Navy is trying in full scale to expand its maritime activities into the western Pacific. This has elevated Okinotorishima’s geopolitical value.
　沖ノ鳥島は、中国から見れば、南西諸島からフィリピンを結ぶ第１列島線と、小笠原諸島からグアムを結ぶ第２列島線の中間に位置する。中国は海軍の西太平洋への本格的な遠洋展開をにらんでおり、地政学的にも価値が高い。

The Japanese government has installed concrete revetments for Okinotorishima to prevent erosion from ocean waves and storms. It should increase its efforts, such as building port facilities, to further safeguard the islets.
　日本政府は、波浪や風雨による沖ノ鳥島の浸食を防ぐため、コンクリート製の護岸を設けている。さらに港湾施設などを整備し、島を確実に保全すべきだ。

This will lead to the effective administration of Okinotorishima’s EEZ and serve as a check on China’s expansionist maritime advances.
　沖ノ鳥島のＥＥＺの有効管理が可能となり、中国の膨張主義的な海洋進出への牽制けんせいにつながる。

Taking advantage of the characteristics of remote islets, Okinotorishima should be used as bases for weather observation, marine research and other purposes. This would help buttress their legal status. Government ministries and agencies concerned must join hands and work out measures from a strategic standpoint.
　離島の特性を生かし、気象観測や海洋生物の調査などの拠点としても活用したい。沖ノ鳥島の法的地位の補強になろう。関係省庁が連携し、戦略的に取り組むことが欠かせない。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 13, 2016)