Japanese self-defence forces to keep tabs on East Asia's seabed

This is the first in a series looking at changes in the Self-Defence Forces 50 years after its formation. In the depths of the seas around Japan lie treasures so valuable that the government has created new missions for the Self-Defence Forces.
The SDF, formed to defend the nation, has now been asked to gather intelligence on rivals China and Russia over the abundant wealth of minerals and gas under the seas of East Asia. One of the new duties of the Maritime SDF is to check on the Pinghu Oil Field being developed by China in the East China Sea about 400 km northwest from the main Okinawa island.

P-3C patrol aircraft, which can fly for up to nine hours continuously, have flown at an altitude of about 150 meters, the same height as the flames shooting up from the oil rig. MSDF crew members record the workings at the oil field with a large video camera. When a ship registers on the plane's radar, the pilot descends to allow crew members to check its name and cargo.
The waters around Japan from the region near Hokkaido to the East China Sea are divided into sectors. One MSDF plane flies over an assigned sector every day. However, since last spring two patrol aircraft have been sent on reconnaissance flights over the East China Sea. The MSDF is interested in what China plans to do about the resources on the continental shelf between the two nations.

Experts say massive amounts of natural resources, such as gold, silver, cobalt and natural gas, are buried in the continental shelf surrounding Japan. The value of those minerals could reach several tens of trillions of yen, and the issue has the potential to expand into a serious confrontation between Japan and China.
Oceanographic research ships from many nations, including China, crisscross the waters around Japan. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which went into effect in 1994, recognizes a coastal nation's right to dig for minerals from a continental shelf up to about 650 km from its territorial waters. To have that right recognized, nations must submit documents to the United Nations by 2009 showing that such minerals exist under the ocean.

Japanese officials argue that since the continental shelf extends to the trench south of the Ryukyu island chain, rights to the shelf should be divided equally by Japan and China along a line equidistant to the two nations. However, Chinese officials argue that the continental shelf ends at the Okinawa trough and that China should have jurisdiction up to that trough. An SDF officer in charge of intelligence explains the need for analysing the actions of foreign nations.
"With its rapid industrialization, China is now a net importer of petroleum," the officer said. "A competition over natural resources in these waters is about to begin."

In November, crew members of a P-3C detected a metallic sound emitted from a sonobuoy that had been dropped into waters about 1,000 km southeast of the East China Sea. They saw a Chinese oceanographic research ship about 300 meters below the plane. The high-pitched sound from the buoy represented the detection of sonic waves emitted from the research ship as it surveyed the ocean floor.
SDF officers said the Chinese vessel may have been surveying the deep ocean floor to prepare for a possible journey by submarines. There are different interpretations of why China would dispatch submarines to waters so far from its shores. In addition to controlling the waters around Taiwan, the submarines could be used to apply pressure on ships from other nations that are plying the area for natural resources.

MSDF ships are also on the lookout for Russian ships around the Soya Strait, close to Sakhalin. Surveillance of those waters is in the hands of destroyers based at the Ominato Regional District Headquarters in Aomori Prefecture. Keeping a watch on the Soya Strait is considered important because Russian ships pass through it on their way to the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific. While US strategic interests have shifted to the main petroleum centres in the Middle East and Central Asia, Russia has moved into the Far East in search of new natural resources.
In summer 2002, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Far East and said Russia's naval power would have to be strengthened. Russia appears willing to expand its sphere of influence through joint exercises with the navies of other nations.

In August, the Russian Pacific fleet held a joint exercise in the waters of East Asia, the first such exercise after the end of the Cold War. In 2002, another large joint exercise was held in the Caspian Sea. A senior SDF officer explained Russia's apparent intentions.
"Both waters are known for a bountiful supply of natural resources," the officer said. "The demonstration of the presence of the Russian military was an expression of Russia's intention to grasp the initiative for developing resources in those regions."

Adm. Eiji Yoshikawa, who heads the Ominato Regional District Headquarters, said surveillance of Russian ships that pass through the Soya Strait would continue as vigilantly as before.
"National security is not limited just to military aspects, but must also include economic activities," Yoshikawa said. "There will be no change in importance for our regional district headquarters of maintaining surveillance over the strait." That surveillance is not limited to ships of the Russian Pacific fleet, but also includes Russian oceanographic research vessels and drilling ships. Since the search for natural resources has also been included in the power game in East Asia, the SDF finds itself engaged in yet another activity.