China’s Escalating Unauthorized Marine Research in East Asia and Its Political Motivations

Incident on New Year’s Day

On January 1, 2024, at approximately 1:10 p.m., just three hours before a magnitude 7 earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula, a Japan Coast Guard (JCG) aircraft detected the Chinese research vessel Da Yang within Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), roughly 277 kilometers south-southwest of Okinotori-shima island, the southernmost territory of Japan. The vessel, measuring 98.5 meters and displacing 4,650 tons, was observed lowering a wire into the sea, indicating ongoing survey activities.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), marine scientific research within a nation’s EEZ or extended continental shelf requires its consent, which must be requested at least six months in advance—or two months as far as a survey in the East China Sea by Japan and China, as exceptionally mitigated by a bilateral agreement in 2001. Da Yang’s survey was conducted without such procedure. The JCG aircraft promptly radioed a demand to cease operations, asserting that such activities without Japan’s consent were unacceptable. Japan subsequently lodged formal protests in Tokyo and Beijing.

On January 2, an unrelated but notable collision occurred between a Japan Airlines plane and a Coast Guard aircraft on a runway at Haneda Airport. The Coast Guard plane’s captain had conducted surveillance over Okinotori-shima the previous day to monitor Da Yang. While the link between the collision and the Da Yang incident remains speculative, it underscores the heightened tension and the need for vigilant monitoring in response to unauthorized foreign activities in Japanese waters.

China’s Unauthorized Marine Research

Over the past decade, JCG confirmed 71 unauthorized marine scientific researches (MSRs) by China within Japan’s EEZ, significantly outpacing Taiwan’s 28 and South Korea’s 6 cases. Chinese vessels have been observed not only near Okinotori-shima but also off the Nansei Islands, including the Amami and Okinawa Islands. The persistence of these activities suggests a broader strategic interest, potentially linked to China’s long-term geopolitical objectives in the region, particularly in areas of significant geological and military interest.

A key area of focus for Chinese research is the Okinawa Trough, a seabed rift located between the Senkaku Islands and the main island of Okinawa. The Okinawa Trough is geologically significant due to the rising magma from deep underground, which is gradually breaking apart the thick continental crust. This unique geological activity raises questions about whether the area qualifies as a continental shelf under UNCLOS, further complicating the legal and geopolitical landscape.

In December 2012, China argued that the Okinawa Trough should be considered the boundary of its continental shelf and submitted an application to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) to extend its continental shelf to this point, with South Korea following suit. In response, Japan submitted a document (note verbale) to the UN in 2013 requesting that these applications not be considered, leading to a suspension of the review process.

The East China Sea (ECS) is less than 400 nautical miles across, meaning that EEZs and continental shelves potentially overlap. Japan maintains that the median line between the coastlines of the countries bordering the ECS should serve as the boundary for both EEZs and continental shelves. This position, however, conflicts with China and South Korea’s claims, finding no common ground. The complexity of these overlapping claims underscores the need for a diplomatic resolution, yet the continuous unauthorized activities by Chinese vessels make such a resolution increasingly challenging.

Escalating Research Activities

The Chinese research vessel KeXue (100 meters, 4,711 tons) has been a frequent presence in the Okinawa Trough, where it has conducted unauthorized research activities. Equipped with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), KeXue has largely sampled rocks, ore minerals, and several new species of life from the seafloor without Japan’s consent. The Chinese Academy of Sciences demonstratively publishes the details of these activities on its website, including the routes, dates, and locations of KeXue’s surveys, making it possible to cross-check this information with JCG’s monitoring data.

One of the most significant research projects conducted by KeXue is the HOBAB (Hydrothermal Activity of Back-Arc Basin) survey series, carried out in the Okinawa Trough between 2013 and 2016. Two of these surveys, HOBAB2 and HOBAB4, have been confirmed as unauthorized and involved the collection of various seafloor samples within Japan’s EEZ. As for two of rest, it is possible that the Coast Guard has not been able to confirm their activities.

During HOBAB4, a core sampler was used to extract over four meters of sediment from a depth of 1,350 to 1,500 meters, just inside Japan’s EEZ, 60 kilometers northwest of Yonaguni Island. This location is close to the hydrothermal vent of Yonaguni Knoll IV. In HOBAB2, volcanic rocks were collected from a depth of over 1,000 meters near Iheya North Knoll, another site of active hydrothermal activity in the Okinawa Trough.

The activities of KeXue are part of a broader geopolitical strategy of Chinese research in the region, often justified by Beijing as necessary for scientific progress but viewed by Japan as a violation of its sovereignty. These actions have significant implications for regional security, as they may also involve the collection of data for military purposes, such as mapping the seabed for submarine navigation.

Publication in a Well-known Journal

China has proactively published the results of unauthorized MSRs in miscellaneous scientific journals to make them ‘fait accompli’. On June 11, 2021, a paper by a Chinese Academy of Sciences team, which utilized mineral samples collected during the HOBAB4 survey, was published in Springer Nature’s Scientific Reports. This publication raises significant ethical concerns, as it is related with the unauthorized research cruise in Japan’s EEZ. Publishing research derived from unauthorized MSRs possibly violates principles of research integrity and science ethics, especially when it is tied to politically sensitive issues like continental shelf claims.

While Ed Gerstner, Director of Academic Affairs at Springer Nature, has stated that they expect research published in their journals to be conducted in accordance with relevant laws, the inclusion of such research in a well-known journal like Scientific Reports can lend credibility to China’s maritime claims. This is particularly concerning given that the peer review process may not always catch the political implications of such research.

Nature has previously criticized the use of science for political purposes, as seen in their response to a Chinese research team including a nine-dash line in a figure in their paper published in October 2011. However, the fact that the HOBAB4 research was published in Scientific Reports indicates that these issues are not always adequately addressed during the peer review process.

A Growing International Concern

The issue of unauthorized MSRs by China is gaining international attention. In May 2023, the G7 Science and Technology Ministerial Meeting held in Sendai included criticism of “unfairly exploit or distort the open research environment and misappropriate research results for economic, strategic, geopolitical, or military purposes” in its communiqué, although it did not mention the country’s name. This marks an important step toward establishing international norms and rules to address the problem.

Last year, most of the China’s applications of new feature names to the Sub-Committee on Undersea Features Names (SCUFN), the UN subsidiary on hydrography-related activities, were from the South China Sea and based on unauthorized MSRs within the EEZ of coastal countries. China then submitted 123 naming proposals, including resubmissions, the largest number ever submitted, which accounted for nearly 30% of the 450 total proposals. These numerous proposals in the South China Sea sparked conflicts with coastal states like Vietnam and the Philippines, leading to an unprecedented situation where SCUFN ‘froze’ the processing of naming applications for features in the South China Sea for the moment.

China’s unauthorized MSRs are part of a broader strategy to assert its maritime claims in East Asia. By conducting research in disputed areas, China gathers data that can be used to support its claims, while simultaneously challenging the sovereignty of other nations. This approach undermines the UNCLOS framework, which is designed to promote peaceful and cooperative use of the oceans.

Given the continuous and growing incompliance of China in the East and South China Seas, it is imperative for Japan and other affected nations to respond decisively. This includes continuing to protest these activities through diplomatic channels, strengthening surveillance and monitoring capabilities, and working with the international community to establish clear rules and norms to prevent such actions in the future. Without decisive action, there is a risk that these activities will continue to escalate, further destabilizing the region and undermining the rule of law. 

[Header image: Chinese research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 10. Photo by global security.org]

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.