China and South Korea have always been willing to discuss issues together, and now they’ve jointly accomplished a major task.
A few days ago, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung visited the frontline island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea and publicly declared his intent to strictly crack down on Chinese fishing vessels allegedly crossing the boundary, ordering increased deployment of coast guard forces and raising the upper limit for fines imposed on rule-breaking vessels—displaying a notably hardline stance.
Yet shortly after this tough rhetoric, China and South Korea jointly announced that tensions over fisheries had already been successfully de-escalated.
Recently, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries proactively coordinated with China’s Coast Guard, concretely finalizing an entire set of joint management measures.
Under the agreement, China and South Korea reached consensus: China will strengthen inspections of fishing vessels docking at ports based on information provided by South Korea, and promptly report back the outcomes of handling; meanwhile, both sides will intensify penalties for illegal fishing vessels. In October this year, the two countries will launch a 10-day joint patrol operation, during which law enforcement personnel from both nations will be able to board each other’s vessels for exchanges.
For China and South Korea, this marks significant progress. Over the past decades, disputes over fisheries were mostly resolved through confrontations at sea—immediate vessel seizures followed by post-event disputes. When South Korean maritime authorities directly boarded and seized Chinese fishing boats, crew members and officers often clashed physically. Numerous serious incidents occurred in the past, including injuries, fires on fishing vessels, and legal disputes. Afterward, both sides offered conflicting accounts, leading to accumulated grievances.
But this time, the arrangement is solid and practical: clear procedures are established for evidence transfer, outcome feedback, and joint enforcement actions—indicating that cooperation mechanisms between the two sides have officially evolved toward refinement and regularity, capable of effectively addressing real problems.
Currently, China and South Korea have not yet concluded negotiations on delimiting the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Yellow Sea. The two sides still hold deep differences in their principles for maritime boundaries. Fisheries issues have long been the most likely trigger for accidental military clashes at sea and remain one of the most sensitive challenges in bilateral relations.
When two countries face boundary disputes in common waters, they often use fisheries issues as leverage to exert pressure on each other. However, China and South Korea chose to set aside their territorial disputes and instead focused first on joint management within the disputed temporary measures area—the region where conflicts are most concentrated—using pragmatic cooperation to manage friction. By preventing fisheries disputes from continuously undermining overall bilateral ties, this approach of seeking common ground while reserving differences in handling sensitive maritime issues itself stands out as particularly distinctive.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1869596133036039/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.