ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview relevant to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and investigates the UNCLOS regime that has been adhered to by the coastal states, and has been helpful or not to guide the concerned states to deal with their different interests. It resolves the various problems threatening the maritime order of the East China Sea (ECS) depending on the political will of the three states. The most serious roadblock for the delimitation of the maritime boundary in the southern sector of the ECS is the territorial dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Japan and China both claim the islands, and Japan requests an Exclusive Economic Zone for them which would bring the maritime border even closer to the Chinese coast. The complexities of the Japan-Korea fisheries agreement also had negative implications for the management and conservation of fishing resources.
