Law of the Sea - Island

Law of the Sea - Continental Shelf

As Japanese Government introduced a budget bill to its Diet providing for budget for infrastructure building on the Okinotori Atoll in the Pacific to keep it from submerging into the sea, a Chinese FM spokesman said that the Okinotori atoll is merely about 10 square meters above the sea and is not an island entitled to have continental shelf or EEZ around it. He said Japan's claim was against international laws and would gravely damage the interests of the international community as a whole. In response, a Japanese Foreign Press Secretary called the Japanese claim to "have already been established".