Disputed natural gas reserves beneath the East China Sea are once again making headlines, as China and Japan spar over which of the two countries has the rights to the underwater reserves.
That became clear last week when Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada warned his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi that Tokyo will take "certain" action if Beijing violates a bilateral accord to jointly explore for gas in the East China Sea.
In particular, Okada told Yang that Tokyo will take countermeasures if Beijing begins gas production in the Chunxiao gas field, arguing that his country would consider such action a violation of a 2008 agreement to jointly explore the area.
It's worth observing that the talks between the two men also touched on North Korea's nuclear issues, with Okada asking China to work toward bringing Pyongyang back to the six-party denuclearization talks "unconditionally."
Lukewarm response
The stalled six-party negotiations involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia, and the US.
Yang reportedly told Okada that China, which is chairing the multilateral denuclearization talks, will "try" to get them resumed "soon." If you think that sounds a little lukewarm, you are right.
As everyone knows, Japan is the first and only country ever to suffer from a nuclear attack. It thus goes without saying that Japanese sensitivities run high on the issue of nuclear weapons, especially in the hands of North Korea.
The Japanese have justifiable concerns, too, for it was just 10 years ago that North Korea launched a ballistic missile that sparked heated debate in Japan over regional security. The temperature of that debate rose when two "mystery ships" violated Japanese territorial waters before escaping into North Korea.
Nuclear threat
As a refresher, the Aug. 31, 1999, launch of the Taepo Dong I was North Korea's first of a missile with a range of more than 1,500 km and brought any part of Japan well within North Korea's sights.
The three-stage missile was launched from North Korea's eastern seaboard. The first stage dropped off into the Sea of Japan, while the second stage flew over Japan into the Pacific.
For the record, the third stage—which US intelligence sources had failed to detect until reviewing data several weeks later—traveled 5,500 km downrange before eventually disintegrating.
Do such events have any bearing on last week's talks between China and Japan over gas in the East China Sea? You bet they do, and it takes no diplomat to recognize that the lukewarm response of Yang is meant to play into those talks.
There is little room to doubt the prospect for Japan: if it wishes to have Chinese help on the nuclear issue, then—at least in Beijing's mind—it must be prepared to make some concession on the issues over gas in the East China Sea.
Hasn't it been said that diplomacy is war by other means?
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