Asia, the World’s Aquatic Centre of Gravity

Grabbing the World’s Fish: the Chinese Threat?

Groups active in this sector will continue to become more important, and sovereign countries will derive their right to become involved from their obligation to ensure the food security of their citizens. The ‘COP’, the conferences of parties tasked with working on environmental and climatic questions, have over the past few years been widely influenced by the choices, positions and directions suggested and negotiated by important Asian actors. In the same manner, future discussions and negotiations over fishing will have to consider the region’s imperatives, expectations and evolutions. Indeed, one of the problems that Asia’s increasing power poses, more than for any other continent, is its combination of critical size and the relative importance of the illegal practices of Asian countries. ‘Overfishing’ and a disregard for fishing rights in faraway waters are the hallmark of a certain number of actors from the Asian continent. China here is not alone, even if its claims to sovereignty over the South China Sea and skirmishes between ‘fishing boats’ in the East China Sea have attracted the world’s attention. A good example of this is the conflict between China and Japan over the ‘Senkaku-Diaoyu’ islands—the aptly named ‘fishing’ or ‘fisherman’ islands. Among the numerous strategic reasons for disputes over territorial waters between Asian countries or Chinese claims to ownership, that of fishery resources alone could be enough to justify these tensions.