Maritime Boundaries Revisited. De-bordering of the Taiwanese-Japanese Neighborhood in the Context of (Re-)Bordering Tendencies in the Region of East and South China Seas

Jarosław Jańczak

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0493-1721

Abstract

The presented article maps processes of bordering, de-bordering and re-bordering in East Asia with maritime borders and territorial claims as the central elements of the analysis. The key question of the investigation is why some maritime territorial disputes are amplified when other are silenced in the region? The author concentrates on two island states, Japan and the Republic of China (Taiwan), testing de-bordering of their neighborhood. This process is taking place however in the context of (maritime) border claims and disputes in the region of East China Sea and South China Sea, with numerous actors involved in the game of controlling space and setting new borders there. It is assumed that to understand the dynamics of the de-bordering processes between the two states, their neighborhood’s analysis has to be framed by historical developments, interests’ configurations as well as the collective spatial memory/identity component. Moreover, the attempts to intensify cross-border cooperation need to be settled, among others, in the changing geopolitical situation in the region and the growing power of China. Conceptually the paper tries to interpret developments using both neo-realistic and constructivist approach to international relations as well as theoretical models of the (still emerging) field of border studies.

Keywords:

borders in East Asia, Japan, Taiwan, de-bordering, re-bordering

Boyle, E. (2015). The Future of Border Studies in the Asia Pacific Center for Asia-Pacific Future Studies 1st Symposium (March 7–8, 2015, Fukuoka, Japan) “Reshaping Border Studies in Asia and the Pacific”. Eurasia Border Review, Vol. 6, No. 1.
  Google Scholar

Brunet-Jailly, E. (2005). Theorizing Borders: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. Geopolitics, No. 10.
  Google Scholar

Bukh, A. (2016). Korean National Identity, Civic Activism and the Dokdo/Takeshima Territorial Dispute. Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, Vol. 3, No. 2.
  Google Scholar

Burton, P. (2010). Culture and Constructivism in International Relations. International History Review, No. 32.
  Google Scholar

Camonita, F. (2019). Cross-Border Islands Governance: A Field Analysis of the Italy-Malta Interreg Programme? In: Dupeyron B., Noferini A. and Payan, T. (eds.), Agents and Structures in Cross-Border Governance: Comparing North America and Europe in an Era of Border Securitization. Toronto: Toronto University Press.
  Google Scholar

Chen, C-C. (2014). Constructing China’s “Usurped Territory”: Taiwan, the Japanese “Other,” and the Domestic Origins of the Diaoyutai/Senkaku Islands Dispute. Working Paper Series Studies on Multicultural Societies, No. 28.
  Google Scholar

Curtis, H. (2016). Constructing Cooperation: Chinese Ontological Security Seeking in the South China Sea Dispute. Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 31, No. 4.
  Google Scholar

Furukawa, K. (2011). Bordering Japan: Towards a Comprehensive Perspective. Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 26, No. 3.
  Google Scholar

Gavrilov, V. (2016). Challenges and Prospects of the Southern Kuril Islands’ Status. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, No. 70.
  Google Scholar

Iwashita, A. (2011). An Invitation to Japan’s Borderlands: At the Geopolitical Edge of the Eurasian Continent. Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 26, No. 3.
  Google Scholar

Jańczak, J. (2019). Construction and Deconstruction of the Borders of (Re) Integration Projects in Eurasia: The Western and Eastern “Edges” of Russia. Acta Slavica Iaponica, Tomus 40.
  Google Scholar

Jones, S. B. (1959). Boundary Concepts in the Setting of Place and Time. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 49, No. 3.
  Google Scholar

Kakazu, H. (2011). Challenges and Opportunities for Japan’s Remote Islands. Eurasia Border Review, Vol. 2, No. 1.
  Google Scholar

Kawakubo, F. (2017). The Transformation of Border Security Practices from Fixed Borders to New Modalities and Privatization: From the Perspective of Critical Border Studies. Eurasia Border Review, Vol. 8, No 1.
  Google Scholar

Konrad, V. (2015). Toward a Theory of Borders in Motion. Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1.
  Google Scholar

Kotani, T. (2016). Regional Approaches to Territorial Dispute Management. In: Dossani, R.,Harold, Scott W. (eds.), Maritime Issues in the East and South China Seas. Rand: Santa Monica, CA.
  Google Scholar

Kuok, L. (2015). Tides of Change: Taiwan’s evolving position in the South China Sea and why other actors should take notice, “East Asia Policy Paper”, 5 May.
  Google Scholar

Kuroiwa, Y. (2011). Northern Challenges: The Japan–Russian Border Dispute and Local Voices. Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 26, No. 3.
  Google Scholar

Lin, C.-Y, (2012). Lingering Territorial Dispute and Taiwan – Japan – US – China Relations. Asian Studies, Vol. 58, No. 4.
  Google Scholar

Lin, C.-Y. (2016). China’s Troubled Waters in the East and South China Seas: A Taiwanese Assessment. In: Dossani, R. and Harold, S. W. (eds.), Maritime Issues in the East and South China Seas, Rand: Santa Monica, CA.
  Google Scholar

Lo, B. (2015). Russia and the New World Disorder. Washington: Brookings Institution Press.
  Google Scholar

Lou, C. (2016). Navigating Through Troubled Waters by Joint Development. In: Dossani, R. and Harold, S. W. (eds.), Maritime Issues in the East and South China Seas, Rand: Santa Monica, CA.
  Google Scholar

Mancini, F. (2013). Uncertain Borders: Territorial Disputes in Asia. ISPI Analysis, No. 180.
  Google Scholar

Matsumoto, H. (2012). The First Taiwan Strait Crisis and China’s “Border” Dispute Around Taiwan. Eurasia Border Review, Vol. 3, Special Issue.
  Google Scholar

MoFA1 – Ministery of Foreign Affairs of Japan, official webpage https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/europe/russia/territory/overview.html, accessed 21.11.2019.
  Google Scholar

MoFA2 – Ministery of Foreign Affairs of Japan, official webpage https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/senkaku/index.html, accessed 21.11.2019.
  Google Scholar

Monty, R. W., Cavazos, A.G. (2016). Building Rhetorical Theory through Discursively Constructed Borders. Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 31, No. 1.
  Google Scholar

Nagy, S. R. (2013). Territorial Disputes, Trade and Diplomacy: Examining the repercussions of the Sino-Japanese territorial dispute on bilateral trade. China Perspectives, No. 4.
  Google Scholar

Newman, D., Paasi, A. (1998). Fences and Neighbours in the Postmodern World: Boundary Narratives in Political Ggeography. Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 22, No. 2.
  Google Scholar

Nordhaug, K. (1999). Taiwan and the South China Sea Conflict: the «China connection» revisited (conference paper).
  Google Scholar

Roach, J. A., Smith, R. W. (2005). Taiwan’s Maritime Claims, Office of Oceans Affairs. Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S: Washington, D.C.
  Google Scholar

Sato, K. (2012a). China’s Territorial Claims at Sea: The East China and South China Sea (Part I). Eurasia Border Review, Vol. 3, No. 1.
  Google Scholar

Sato, K. (2012b). China’s “Frontiers”: Issues Concerning Territorial Claims at Sea – Security Implications in the East China Sea and the South China Sea (Part II), Eurasia Border Review, Vol. 3, No. 2.
  Google Scholar

Tang, C.-M. (2016). Taiwan’s Challenges in the Changing Landscape of Regional Security and Economy in the Asia-Pacific Region after the Cold War. Studia z Polityki Publicznej, Vol. 12, No. 4.
  Google Scholar

Tarumoto, H. (2019). Why restrictive refugee policy can be retained? A Japanese case. Migration and Development, Vol. 8, No. 1.
  Google Scholar

Telhami, S. (2002). Kenneth Waltz, Neorealism, and Foreign Policy. Security Studies, No. 11.
  Google Scholar

Thim, M. (2013a). Taiwan’s dispute with the Philippines (I): One international law, two interpretations. Asia Dialog, May 19.
  Google Scholar

Thim, M. (2013b). Senkaku Breakthrough: Taiwan and Japan agree on fishing rights. Japan Security Watch, April 10.
  Google Scholar

van Schendel, W., de Maaker, E. (2014). Asian Borderlands: Introducing their Permeability, Strategic Uses and Meanings. Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 29, No. 1.
  Google Scholar

Wiegand, K., Choi, A. (2017). Nationalism, Public Opinion, and Dispute Resolution: The Dokdo/Takeshima Dispute. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, Vol. 27.
  Google Scholar

Wills, E. R. (2016). Constructing a “Wall”: Discursive Fields, Social Movements, and the Politics of the [Wall/Barrier/Fence]. Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 31, No. 3.
  Google Scholar

Yamada, Y. (2011). Japan’s New National Border Strategy and Maritime Security. Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 26, No. 3.
  Google Scholar

Yee, A. (2011). Maritime Territorial Disputes in East Asia: A Comparative Analysis of the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, Vol. 40, No. 2.
  Google Scholar

Yuen, S. (2014). Under the Shadow of China. China Perspectives, No. 2.
  Google Scholar

Zhurzhenko, T. (2012). Bordering and Ordering the Twenty-first Century: Understanding Borders. Journal of Borderlands Studies, Vol. 27, No. 3.
  Google Scholar

Ziętek, A. W. (2016). The South China Sea: A Place af Rivalry and Power Management. Teka Kom. Politol. Stos. Międzynar., Vol. 11, No. 1.
  Google Scholar

Download


Published
2019-12-20

Cited by

Jańczak, J. (2019). Maritime Boundaries Revisited. De-bordering of the Taiwanese-Japanese Neighborhood in the Context of (Re-)Bordering Tendencies in the Region of East and South China Seas. Border and Regional Studies, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.25167/ppbs1406

Authors

Jarosław Jańczak 
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0493-1721

Statistics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.


License

Copyright (c) 2019 Pogranicze. Polish Borderlands Studies

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.