Taiwan and Japan: A complex fisheries relationship

The East China Sea offers rich fishery resources and is a very important fishing ground for both Taiwan and Japan. However, both parties have claimed 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, resulting in overlapping EEZ claims. Additionally, an issue of disputed sovereignty exists with regards to the eight uninhabited Islands between Taiwan, Japan and China in the southern part of the East China Sea, a situation further complicated by the fact that Taiwan and Japan have no formal diplomatic relations. Against this context, Taiwan and Japan have chosen to shelve their territorial disputes and address their fisheries conflict by signing a fisheries agreement in 2013, with the hope of resolving, or at least managing, the fisheries dispute within their shared waters. This paper aims to provide the analysis of the fisheries dispute caused by overlapping EEZs between Taiwan and Japan, the challenges encountered during the two sides׳ fishery negotiations, as well as the scope and the significance of the fisheries agreement signed by Taiwan and Japan.