Abe playing an unwinnable game

According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, states should resolve disputes over overlapping exclusive economic zones and continental shelf boundary delimitation through international agreements. The UNCLOS advises that, if the disputing countries cannot reach an immediate agreement, they should avoid taking unilateral actions to escalate the dispute.

However, in contravention to the UNCLOS, Japan unilaterally drew a median line to resolve the Sino-Japanese overlapping continental shelf delimitation dispute, assuming that China's continental shelf is only 200 nautical miles wide despite the fact that China's continental shelf is much wider and stretches up to the Okinawa Trough.

Besides, Japan has repeatedly criticized China's Chunxiao oil and gas field for bypassing the median line, which China has never recognized, let alone accepted.

As far as the South China Sea issue is concerned, when disputes arise in applying the UNCLOS, the disputing countries should try to resolve them through negotiations, and when bilateral efforts fail, they can invite a third party to act as mediator, conciliator and even arbitrator. Since neither China nor any of the other disputing countries have invited Japan to mediate, Abe has no right to poke his nose in the issue.

Japan has not only proclaimed itself to be a mediator and criticized China, but also echoed the US criticisms against China. This is a blatant violation of all international norms, not least because the disputing parties in the South China Sea are capable of resolving their disputes peacefully through talks.

Instead of trying to meddle in other countries' affairs, Japan should reflect on its militarist past and apologize for its wartime crimes in Asian countries, especially China. By trying to act as an uninvited mediator, Japan has lifted a stone only to drop it on its own feet, for Abe's ploy to revive Japan's militarism by playing up the "China threat" theory is definitely not going to work.

The author is an assistant professor at the Hainan Provincial Party School.