Ban Ki-Moon to mediate on Gabon/Equatorial Guinea border
16th June 2008
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has opened a mediation session between Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The maritime dispute between the two countries, now over a quarter of a century old, concerns three contested islets, Mbanie, Cocotiers and Conga, some 100 kilometres from the coast of Gabon, and the United Nations has been actively involved in attempting to mediate between the two countries since 2004.
Presidents Bongo Ondimba of Gabon and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea agreed to resolve the dispute at a summit meeting held in February 2006. However, resolution has not been forthcoming. Both countries appear to be seeking different paths to resolution, with Gabon favouring the creation of a joint development zone, and Equatorial Guinea seeking arbitration by the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
June 16 China and Japan to cooperate on disputed maritime space China and Japan have agreed a way forward regarding disputed areas of the East China Sea. The agreement has already facilitated investment in the area by Japanese oil companies.
A statement released by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the two countries had 'agreed to conduct cooperation in the transitional period before the delimitation of the relevant waters, march the first step in joint development in the chosen area of the East China Sea, without prejudicing their respective legal positions.'
It said that the countries had reached a principled consensus on the East China Sea issue representing an 'important step to realize the common understanding of the leaders of the two countries on making the East China Sea a sea of peace, cooperation and friendship'.
China's Japanese counterpart has yet to publish official confirmation of the pact. However, a spokesman for the Japanese embassy confirmed to Menas Borders that an agreement had been reached.
The Reuters News Agency reported, June 21 that two Japanese oil companies were now considering exploration projects in the East China Sea. It said that Teikoku Oil would be investing in the development of the Chunxiao gas field, and that Nippon Oil Corporation would 'aim to participate in a joint development project'.
Reuters says that under the agreement, Japanese companies will be permitted by China to take a stake in China's development of the Chunxiao field on the Chinese side of the median line between the two countries and which Japan claims as being an international maritime boundary.
China has yet to agree maritime boundaries with any of its neighbours, and has given strong indications that the 'pact' in no way represents a dilution of its claims. The state-sponsored China Daily online cited Liu Nanlai of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who said the exploration of Chunxiao gas field represented 'China's assertion of sovereign rights in its inalienable sea water'.
China and Japan dispute the methodology by which the maritime boundary ought be delimited. China insists the boundary should be determined by its continental shelf, whereas Japan claims the median line, and while known reserves in the disputed region are modest, the dispute has become a useful bellwether of relations between the two neighbours.
The very fact of the recent pact is a sign that those relations are improving. There is some way to go, however, before the dispute is finally resolved.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has opened a mediation session between Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The maritime dispute between the two countries, now over a quarter of a century old, concerns three contested islets, Mbanie, Cocotiers and Conga, some 100 kilometres from the coast of Gabon, and the United Nations has been actively involved in attempting to mediate between the two countries since 2004.
Presidents Bongo Ondimba of Gabon and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea agreed to resolve the dispute at a summit meeting held in February 2006. However, resolution has not been forthcoming. Both countries appear to be seeking different paths to resolution, with Gabon favouring the creation of a joint development zone, and Equatorial Guinea seeking arbitration by the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
June 16 China and Japan to cooperate on disputed maritime space China and Japan have agreed a way forward regarding disputed areas of the East China Sea. The agreement has already facilitated investment in the area by Japanese oil companies.
A statement released by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the two countries had 'agreed to conduct cooperation in the transitional period before the delimitation of the relevant waters, march the first step in joint development in the chosen area of the East China Sea, without prejudicing their respective legal positions.'
It said that the countries had reached a principled consensus on the East China Sea issue representing an 'important step to realize the common understanding of the leaders of the two countries on making the East China Sea a sea of peace, cooperation and friendship'.
China's Japanese counterpart has yet to publish official confirmation of the pact. However, a spokesman for the Japanese embassy confirmed to Menas Borders that an agreement had been reached.
The Reuters News Agency reported, June 21 that two Japanese oil companies were now considering exploration projects in the East China Sea. It said that Teikoku Oil would be investing in the development of the Chunxiao gas field, and that Nippon Oil Corporation would 'aim to participate in a joint development project'.
Reuters says that under the agreement, Japanese companies will be permitted by China to take a stake in China's development of the Chunxiao field on the Chinese side of the median line between the two countries and which Japan claims as being an international maritime boundary.
China has yet to agree maritime boundaries with any of its neighbours, and has given strong indications that the 'pact' in no way represents a dilution of its claims. The state-sponsored China Daily online cited Liu Nanlai of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who said the exploration of Chunxiao gas field represented 'China's assertion of sovereign rights in its inalienable sea water'.
China and Japan dispute the methodology by which the maritime boundary ought be delimited. China insists the boundary should be determined by its continental shelf, whereas Japan claims the median line, and while known reserves in the disputed region are modest, the dispute has become a useful bellwether of relations between the two neighbours.
The very fact of the recent pact is a sign that those relations are improving. There is some way to go, however, before the dispute is finally resolved.