Webinar: Rising Tensions in the East China Sea (YCAPS-JUMP)

October 22, 2020 , 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm (Asia/Tokyo)

On October 22, JUMP and the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS) hosted our thirteenth YCAPS-JUMP webinar at 7 PM JST. This was part of an ongoing series exploring interesting and contemporary topics relevant to our base communities and beyond. Our guest speaker was Dr. Alessio Patalano from King’s College London who spoke on the rising tensions between the Japan-U.S. alliance and China in the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands. Over 90 participants attended the webinar.

Starting with an overview of changes in behaviors and status-quo, Dr. Patalano explained China and Japan’s positions by addressing multiple aspects including different phases of China’s three-pronged attritional strategy toward the East China Sea, the PRC’s behaviors that are connected to the exercise of law enforcement rights, and possible ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted China’s approach to the area. Explaining this issue while also addressing many other points, he emphasized that this issue on behavior and management of international maritime disputes applies to maritime order not only in China and Japan, but everywhere else in the world. Following the presentation, the webinar continued with a highly interactive Q&A session where participants asked a variety of questions, from how the Suga administration may maintain similar attitudes as the Abe administration, to reasons why neither country has sought arbitration, to the PRC’s response towards Japan’s actions in possible scenarios. Discussion on these points, along with many others, showed that the nature of this topic surrounding the East China Sea continues to be a relevant issue.

You might wish to read our speaker’s related works titled “A Gathering Storm? The Chinese ‘Attrition’ Strategy for the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands” and “What is China’s Strategy in the Senkaku Islands?”

Dr. Alessio Patalano specializes in maritime strategy and doctrine, Japanese military history and strategy, East Asian Security, and Italian defense policy. From 2006 to 2015, he was visiting professor in Strategy at the Italian Naval War College (ISMM), Venice. In Japan, Dr. Patalano has been a visiting professor at Aoyama Gakuin University and at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), both in Tokyo, and currently is Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies, Temple University Japan and Visiting Professor at the Japan Maritime Command and Staff College (JMCSC). At KCL, Dr. Patalano is the Director of the Asian Security and Warfare Research Group the leading UK forum for research and education on East Asia and the King’s Japan Programme. Dr. Patalano is also a senior fellow with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and at Policy Exchange, he leading think tanks on defense and security matters in the UK. For more info, please visit here.

Thank you to everyone who attended! Please stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for details on future events.