China vs Japan: FTAs, Oil and Taiwan

The growing competition for oil particularly in East Asia between China and Japan is dragging Taiwan leading to saber-rattling by both countries. The role of Taiwan in this equation adds heat into this growing rivalry that also has military implications.

China and Japan are locked in a rivalry over at least three flashpoints: Free Trade Agreements particularly in the region; oil energy; and over Taiwan.
Dependence on oil imports is driving Japan in competition over scarce energy resources with China with both energy-hungry countries locked in a simmering dispute over gas reserves in the East China Sea. The offshore oil and gas fields under the East China Sea are attractive “domestic” sources of energy for both Beijing and Tokyo — and both have laid claim to them. China argues that the entire East China Sea continental shelf, extending eastward nearly all the way to Okinawa, is a “natural prolongation” of the Chinese mainland. Japan has declared its boundary to be a median line between its undisputed territory and China — a line that runs roughly 100 miles west of the Okinawa Trough, which lies undersea just west of Okinawa and is where the richest petroleum deposits in the area are believed to be concentrated.

There are reasons why Taiwan represents a strategic determinant in Sino-Japanese relations. Taiwan is a critical gateway to Japan for Chinese blue-water naval advances from the south. Hence, the island represents a defensive imperative for Japan – one that China acknowledges in its own strategic calculations. According to Japan’s Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), China’s blue water navy has been sounding out access channels around Japan and on its Pacific coast – from the Sakhalin Islands in the north to the Ryuku Islands in the south, as far west as Taiwan and as far east as the Philippines. These access channels are of crucial importance should Chinese submarines seek to attack Japan in times of conflict.

Bulatlat