Text: Jiang Qingtong
Editor|Jiang Qingsheng
Preface
The issue of national territory has always been an issue of concern to the whole world, and some countries do not hesitate to play the trick of "land reclamation" in order to expand their territorial scope.
We are most aware of the Japanese ambition to occupy territory and forcibly occupy territory, and we were even sued by the mainland to the United Nations for a time, although we lost the lawsuit.
But what Japan didn't expect was that behind this there was a big "yang conspiracy" on the mainland, what is this "yang conspiracy"? In the end, did Japan's "reclamation" plan succeed?
Japan's abacus for land reclamation?
Japan has always been called an "island country" because of its land area, which I believe many people know, and Japan is more mountainous and hilly, accounting for 70% of Japan's land area.
In addition, the rivers there are short and not high, and the entire Kanto Plain is only 16,000 square kilometers, which can barely support all the resources when the Japanese population is small.
However, with the economic development in recent years, the local population of Japan has increased, which has also made the plain area of the Japanese island country not enough to use.
It is important to know that land is not only needed for human settlements, but also for agriculture and industry, so Japan does not have so much land for the people to use.
The solution that Japan has come up with is to reclaim land from the sea, and to implement this action, you must know that more than 9% of Japan's land is reclaimed from the sea.
For example, Osaka's Kansai International Airport was the result of land reclamation, and in the 29 years from 1945 to 1974, Japan's land reclamation area reached 1.2 billion square meters, which is equivalent to the area of Hong Kong, China.
But this did not let Japan stop, they once again hit their minds on the "Okinotori Reef", you must know that the consequences of land reclamation are irreversible, Japan's actions before this, the international community has turned a blind eye to the past.
But Okinotori Reef is different, this place is actually two rocks that are exposed to the sea, and anyone with a discerning eye can tell that they are two reefs, but Japan insists that it is an island.
The main reason for this is that Japan wants this land, and if Okinotori Reef is recognized as an internationally recognized island, then according to the international convention, Japan can be counted around these two reefs.
The exclusive economic rights of the surrounding 200 nautical miles belong to Japan, and Japan wants to reclaim this sea area, if it really succeeds, then Japan's land will directly increase several times, which is why Japan wants this island.
Reef or "island"
In 1987, Japan began to develop the idea of the two reef islands, and in order to obtain exclusive economic rights and about 255,000 square kilometers of outer continental shelf around them, Japan began to carry out continuous reclamation operations on Okinotorishima Island.
But the funny thing is that no matter how much Japan fills the island, there is still no way to expand its territory, and the island is only two reefs both historically and practically.
It is shameful for Japan to insist on two reefs as islands because it wants exclusive economic rights in this area, so both internationally and within Japan have expressed dissatisfaction with Japan's reclamation of Okinotorishima, which is just two reefs.
This is indeed the case, this reef was formed in the western Pacific Ocean of Tokyo about 25,000 years ago, and there were not only two reefs, but six, but with the erosion of time and waves, only two reefs remained.
And these two reefs are only one meter high, with a total area of less than 10 square meters, looming in the waves, which is really far-fetched to say that the islands are very far-fetched.
The mainland also reported the relevant complaint to the United Nations, and hoped that the international community would work together to expose Japan's scheming this time, but what made people helpless was that although we knew that Japan had other intentions, because Japan had many allies in the world, our appeal was finally rejected.
This also made Japan complacent, but this incident actually did not cause any harm to us, China, and it can even be said to be good news.
The "Yang Conspiracy" at sea began
If the United Nations directly passed the complaint when the mainland made a claim, then Japan would need to stop land reclamation, but if the United Nations did not stop Japan, or even rejected China's claim, then we could start building islands like Japan.
You must know that in the maritime area, China has already suffered losses, and the United States has been dangling back and forth in the reef area of the South China Sea, and the main reason for this is that there are disputes over islands and reefs in the South China Sea and many countries, which has allowed the United States to take advantage of the loopholes.
He even directly set the 3-kilometer territorial sea regulation himself, ignoring the UN's 12-nautical-mile territorial sea regulation.
Since you yourself said that the territorial sea is 3 nautical miles, then we only recognize the territorial waters of 3 nautical miles, and directly send warships to run between Japan's Honshu and Hokkaido to travel at will, isn't it three nautical miles? We too, which leaves the United States and Japan with nothing to say.
And this time is the same, since Japan can build islands, then we can also build islands, so after the appeal was rejected, the mainland began to appear in the South China Sea in 2014, and began a mighty land reclamation operation.
Whether it is the Sky Whale or the Sky Kun, they are busy day by day, and in this way, our Woody Island and Fiery Cross Island appeared, which made Japan can only crush its teeth and swallow it in its stomach, after all, it was they who started it first.
And this makes us unconvinced, Vietnam has a lot of opinions about us, and even interferes with our reclamation operations, can we tolerate this? Finally, it took back de facto control of our six reefs from Vietnam.
Of course, these six are also non-stop reclamation of islands, which makes the surrounding countries even more dissatisfied, but because of the case of Japan in front, they have no excuse to stop it.
And before our reclamation, the largest island in the mainland's Nansha Islands was Taiping Island, of course, this is not talking about its area, Taiping Island is only about one square kilometer.
However, because of the topography of this island, Taiping Island has become one of the few islands in the Nansha region with natural water sources, which is why Taiping Island was called the largest island at that time.
But after we reclaimed the island, everything changed, and even the title of the first island of Taiping Island was moved to Mischief Island.
And after we reclaim the islands, we have increased our control over the South China Sea area of the mainland, and can better defend China's maritime borders.
Is Japan's reclamation plan complete?
The answer, of course, is no, and even Japan itself admits that the so-called Okinotori Island is a reef and that Japan is painstakingly trying to obtain exclusive economic rights to this sea area.
During the reclamation period, Japan spent 28.5 billion yen to build countless concrete walls on Okinotori Island, and placed 9,900 iron breakbreak blocks on them, and then spent 800 million yen to equip Okinotori Island with titanium alloy protective nets.
In 2006, Japan wanted to create a coral island around it, and this time it spent $7.75 million to release 300,000 coral eggs nearby.
But Japan may not have imagined that the eggs that were bought at a large price would be eaten by the starfish in the end, which is simply a loss-making deal.
And in the end, the islands that Japan wanted were not built, because no matter how Japan filled in the weathering problem, as long as there were waves coming, these two reefs would loom, let alone be submerged directly after the high tide.
Many countries in the world know that there is no way to build an island for people to live in this place chosen by Japan, but Japan not only does not believe it, but even directly allocates funds to set up a house number on the reef, and it is not even finished, and Okinotori Island is incorporated into Ogasawara Village in Tokyo, which is simply a brainstorm.
It can be said that the Japanese really racked their brains in order to get this "land", but it is not known whether the Japanese islands will be built in the future.
After all, there is basically no such thing as our Sky Whale or Sky Kun, and there are only thousands of starfish "army" on Okinotori Island, so Japan may have to think of a way to build a coral colony.
epilogue
We can look at the current state-to-state conspiracy for their own interests, whether it is a conspiracy or a "conspiracy", it is simply endless.
But no matter what it is, in the end, these schemes need national strength to support, and joining the country has no strength, even if you get the start you want, there is no perfect ending.
Refer to the article
On April 29, 2016, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that China does not recognize Japan's claim to an exclusive economic zone and continental shelf based on Okinotori Reef
March 4, 2023 "Japan suddenly claims more than 7,000 small islands! Okinotori Reef was also counted".
July 22, 2020 "Okinotori" is a reef, not an island! Japan has been referring to reefs as islands for many years, and the difference in one word exposes its maritime strategic ambitions".
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