Audience lords, due to the restrictions of the platform rules, you may need to watch a few seconds of free ads during the reading process to unlock the follow-up content of the article. The author kneels and begs for your support and understanding.
In early March last year, Japan unilaterally announced that it had 7,000 more "islands," and Japanese officials even publicly stated that these "new islands" did not include islands that had been reclaimed from the sea.
So is this really the case?
If you look at this list, you can see that the name "Okinotori" is impressively among them, but the mainland does not recognize it as an island, and in our official statement, it has always been called "Okinotori Reef".
In June 2012, Japanese media reported that the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf had done a "big deal".
Japanese media said in the report that the committee recognized that Okinotori Reef was counted as a New Continental Shelf point for Japan, but in China's view, the United Nations did not disclose the relevant documents, and Japan's demand was not reasonable!
The reason for this was that Japan wanted to change the Okinotori Reef to "Okinotori Island" and, in order to enhance the legitimacy of its demands, openly began to "reclaim the islands", which was strongly opposed by China, and the matter was brought to the United Nations.
At that time, there was a lot of commotion because of these incidents, and the United Nations did not recognize Japan's proposal, nor did it agree to their demand for using Okinotori Reef as a base point, but it also did not deny Japan's practice of reclaiming the sea and building islands.
If Japan really "creates islands" here, then with the support of the United States, they will not be able to do so, and restrictions on China will be further strengthened, and China's opposition to Japan's islands here has not been responded to at the United Nations.
So why are China and Japan engaged in a fierce battle over the definition of an island? In the face of such unreasonable actions by the United States and Japan, how does China respond to them?
Island or reef?
As for the question of whether it is an island or a reef, in fact, the relevant United Nations conventions have clearly stipulated, first of all, the land area must be naturally formed, and the land part of it must be exposed to the surface of the water regardless of whether the tide rises or falls.
In addition, there is also a very important point, that is, it must be able to meet the needs of human life to be considered an island, and those that do not meet this requirement cannot be counted as an island, only as a reef, so what is the situation of Okinotori Reef in Japan?
Looking down, there is no greenery on the Okinotori Reef, and even at low tide, it is only a small point, and it is difficult to put a double bed on the ground, which is naturally not considered an island, and both China and South Korea consider it to be a reef.
But Japan doesn't see it that way, and has long insisted that Okinotori Reef is an island, because if it were treated as an island, it would legally own its own exclusive economic zone and most importantly, a continental shelf.
If it were recognized by the United Nations, Japan would be able to carve out a 200-nautical-mile economic zone, a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea, and a 350-nautical-mile continental shelf.
Therefore, if it is really as reported by the Japanese media, Japan will have about 42 square kilometers of sea area out of thin air, and at that time, whether it is a merchant ship or a warship on the mainland, will be monitored by Japan if they want to enter and leave here freely.
From this point of view, if Japan's conspiracy succeeds, they will have access to a huge amount of marine resources, which can be regarded as a "charcoal in the snow" for Japan.
In addition to resources, the geographical location of Okinotori Reef is also crucial.
It sits in the middle of the first and second island chains of the U.S. blockade of China, and if the reef were artificially expanded into an island and troops were to be sent on it, the U.S. and Japan would have more control over the maritime area than ever before.
This is obviously not a good thing for China, so we naturally want to oppose it, and Japan naturally knows that there will be resistance, so they have already started to lay out here.
As early as 2005, they began to allocate funds to build a landmark plaque here, sent officials to the reef to declare sovereignty, and brought in a large number of building materials to strengthen the reef in order to prevent it from being flooded by the sea.
In 2006, they planted about 50,000 small corals by cultivating coral samples taken from Okinotori Reef.
However, after so many years, it is clear that Japan's plan ended in failure, and as for the reasons for the failure, everyone must have heard of it, so I will not go into too much detail here.
Coupled with Japan's subsequent actions on Okinotori Reef, which were ignored by the United Nations, how should China retaliate?
China's conspiracy
Since they chose to build islands near the reef and can get the tacit approval of the United Nations, then we naturally don't have to be polite, after all, there are many reefs in the South China Sea.
If China's control over the South China Sea is further strengthened, then it will not be a simple matter for US aircraft carriers to "sail freely" here as before.
In order to contain China and restrict China's rights and interests in the South China Sea, the United States and the Philippines staged a "South China Sea Arbitration Case" in 2016, arguing that China's islands in the South China Sea are not islands, but "rocks and reefs".
If China's islands in the South China Sea can only be regarded as "reefs", then what is Japan's Okinotori Reef, which does not on its?
Take China's Taiping Island in the South China Sea, for example, which covers an area of 490,000 square meters, which is tens of thousands of times the size of Okinotori Reef.
But how can we allow the United States and Japan to practice such double standards?
In this world of the jungle, only strength is the truth, and these countries that engage in double standards naturally do not understand other truths.
As a result, the mainland has stepped up the pace of land reclamation in the South China Sea, and before Japan's Okinotori Reef, we also thought that islands in the South China Sea were reefs, but now as long as the land creation speed is fast enough, then these places are islands.
As a result, the Xisha Islands, which were originally very scarce in living materials, have already begun to live on the Paracel Islands after the hard work and transformation of the mainland, and in addition, new "islands" with complete facilities such as Mischief Island and Woody Island have also appeared.
In this process, the mainland's technology of blowing sand and reclaiming islands is not inferior to that of developed countries such as Japan and the Netherlands.
Even today, Okinotori Reef is still a big place, and even if Japan claims that it is an island, it is still not recognized by China, and the mainland's scientific research ships conducted marine surveys near Okinotori Reef in 2019 in a reasonable and compliant manner.
Although Japan vigorously opposes this, China's position is consistent, and Japan's attempt to turn the reef into an island will eventually fail.
A few reefs cannot be islands, but in the South China Sea, our planes and warships have already come and go freely there, and it has to be said that this double-standard behavior of the United States and Japan has only lifted a stone and shot itself in the foot.
epilogue
Even today, the law of the jungle in the world still exists, and only countries with strong strength and big fists have the opportunity to be reasonable.
Like the Palestinians, because of the weakness of the state, even if there are many people who support them, their entry into the United Nations is still elusive.
At any time, strength is always the only weapon to safeguard interests and dignity!
Reference:
Observer.com: Japan's claim of Okinotori was recognized, and the Chinese side said that it was groundless
China Youth Network: Japan didn't expect to shoot itself in the foot_Comment Channel__China Youth Network
Observer.com: China's expansion of islands and reefs in the South China Sea has changed the face of desolation Mischief Reef villages have taken shape
China News Network: Military Network: Okinotori "Puts on a vest" or a reef Japan hides huge ambitions-Chinanews.com
Shangguan News: "Okinotori" is a reef, not an island! For many years, Japan has referred to reefs as islands, and the difference in one word has exposed its maritime strategic ambitions
Reference News Network: British media: Japan's motive for expanding Okinotori Reef is impure and contains strong meaning in containing China-China News Network
Global Network: Japan's Bird Reef Claim of Hedge Has Not Been Recognized by the United Nations Japanese media has put up an oolong
Image News: Japan Announces 7,000 More Islands! The "Okinotori" is counted, and the circumference is less than 100 meters