著者

佐藤 良聖

出版者

東洋文庫

雑誌

東洋学報 = The Toyo Gakuho (ISSN:03869067)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.103, no.1, pp.31-55, 2021-06-30

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Beginning in the late 19th century, as the countries of East Asia encountered European international law, the legal issue of territorial waters, the institutional basis for any nation’s claim to maritime possessions, was approached by Japan and China in greatly differing ways as shown by a fishing dispute which occurred between Japan, China and Korea in the Bohai and the Yellow Seas between 1906 and 1912. The dispute began in Bohai between Japan and the Qing Dynasty over the extent of China’s territorial waters there. Then in 1909, it reverberated into the Yellow Sea region when the Korean Empire legally determined its territorial waters, thus shutting out Chinese fishermen. In opposition to the Japanese argument citing customs of International Law of the Sea, the Qing Dynasty reinterpreted international maritime customs to legitimize its position, thus giving rise to differing approaches, which clashed over China’s claim that the whole Bohai Sea constituted its territorial waters, in contrast to Japan’s claim that they were limited to three nautical miles. Throughout its course the dispute was further complicated by the unsolved question of whether China or Japan was authorized to administer Kwantung Leased Territory on the Liaodong Peninsula, which included the maritime ports of Dalian and Lüshun on the Bohai Sea. In order to break the deadlock Ijuin Hikokichi, the Japanese envoy to the Qing Dynasty, proposed that debate be focused on the issue of tax collection instead of territorial waters, arguing that a compromise ironed out on the local level would bring a speedy end to the controversy. Nevertheless, a solution of sorts was only reached in April 1912, when a fishing agreement was concluded between the Republic of China and Japan, which determined that customary administrative procedures would be adopted. The author argues that the dispute gave rise to a controversy over maritime sovereignty, which the three parties tried to resolve by way of the idea of territorial waters. Although that attempt was unsuccessful due to the ensuing gridlock, it enabled the Qing Dynasty to form a unique interpretation of territorial waters determined by international custom, due in part to the fact that the simple application of International Maritime Law was made impossible by the special case of foreign leased territory in the region under dispute.

著者

佐藤 良聖 宇田川 義人 大谷 万由子 都築 大輔 長澤 咲耶 飯島 渉

出版者

青山学院大学史学会

雑誌

史友 = The journal of history by Aoyama Historical Society (ISSN:02873826)

巻号頁・発行日

no.50, pp.107-116, 2018