ABSTRACT
This chapter explores past experience of how the maritime joint development zone issue has been dealt with, and especially where small islands are concerned. Some observations drawn from this inventory and assessment of past practice are offered, together with some preliminary considerations on the applicability of these observations to the overlapping claims of China and Japan in the East China Sea, and involving the Diaoyu/Senkaku island chain. Japan does have one other 'island dispute' that is officially shelved: this concerns Ieodo, formerly known as Socotra Rock, a submerged reef that has been built over by Korea to house a research station and helipad. Formerly recognised to be in international waters, the rock became an issue in 1996 when the international community extended the maximum reach of EEZs to 200 nautical mile. Meanwhile, any joint development by China and Japan on and around the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands could contemplate activities that have nothing to do with oil and gas extraction.
