Publication

The brief discusses EU policy towards the territorial disputes between China and Japan in the East China Sea as well as what factors shape this approach. The authors contend that the main elements of the EU approach are that it 1) maintains no position on who has sovereignty over the disputed territory; and 2) supports crisis management mechanisms and the use of international law to deal with the disputes. They suggest that although this approach plays a limited role in managing the disputes, it does help to an extent as it maintains the place of cooperative security approaches on the table in discourse on the issue. The authors also discuss EU influence on strategic relations between the US, China and Japan and provide recommendations on how the Union can enhance its contribution to the maintenance of peace and stability in the East China Sea.