"China Expands Marine Survey Area Around Guam...Infringes on Other Countries' EEZ"

Active in the South China Sea amid disputes with Southeast Asian countries
China's fleet of 64 marine survey vessels... more than the US and Japan combined

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] According to the Nihon Keizai (Nikkei) newspaper, Chinese marine survey vessels expanded their survey range last year by intruding into other countries' Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), extending as far as the area around the U.S. territory of Guam. It is expected that maritime sovereignty disputes around China's neighboring waters, including the South China Sea, will intensify further.

On the 1st, Nikkei obtained and analyzed navigation data from early last year to late November for 32 Chinese marine survey vessels from the database of the ship information company MarineTraffic. The analysis pointed out that these vessels were notably active in the waters around the U.S. territory of Guam and in the South China Sea, where Southeast Asian countries compete over rights to oil and natural gas resources.

Although China regards the so-called "First Island Chain," which connects Japan's Okinawa, Taiwan, and the Philippines, as an important military defense line against the U.S., its marine survey activities have expanded their operational area beyond the "Second Island Chain," which stretches from Japan's Ogasawara Islands to Guam and Indonesia, reaching into the Pacific Ocean.

Furthermore, some vessels were reported to have operated without permission in other countries' EEZs, receiving warnings or showing movements that could be interpreted as resource exploration in disputed waters. According to Nikkei, among the 17 Chinese vessels estimated to have operated in other countries' EEZs or in areas where boundaries have not been finalized over the past year, suspicious activities were confirmed in more than 10 vessels.

Meanwhile, the current Chinese marine survey fleet is known to be the largest in the world. According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a total of 64 Chinese marine survey vessels have been registered since 1990 based on constructed ships, including those no longer active. In comparison, the United States and Japan reportedly have only 44 and 23 vessels, respectively. Consequently, concerns are growing that maritime territorial disputes in China's surrounding waters will become even more intense in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.