Territorial and maritime jurisdiction disputes in East Asia

There are at least four interlocking layers of potential conflict and therefore security challenges in the East Asian maritime domain. These are territorial and sovereignty disputes over certain islands, rocks, and atolls in the East China Sea and the South China Sea; undefined or overlapping maritime boundaries and legal jurisdiction issues; threats to maritime safety and sea lane security such as piracy, terrorism, smuggling, and trafficking; ¹ and military competition for sea control among major regional and extra regional powers.