Legal Insurrection has been regularly following the natural-resource-raiding Chinese Fishing Fleet, which appears to have expanded in scale after depleting its own waters for food. I noted that it was hauling catches from the ecologically sensitive area around the Galapagos Islands, plundering Argentinian waters, and discharging sufficient sewage into the seas that it was visible via satellite.
In my most recent report, I noted that China’s trawlers are central to its maritime gray‑zone campaign around Taiwan, using civilian‑flagged fishing vessels for intimidation, ramming incidents, and blocking operations near reefs and shoals claimed by Southeast Asian states. China’s fleet is also on Japan’s radar, and Japan has offered assistance to South American countries to prevent further incursions by Chinese fishermen.
This week, Japan adopted an even more aggressive approach to resource protection in response to China. Japanese authorities have seized a Chinese fishing vessel operating near Nagasaki and arrested its captain after the boat allegedly refused to stop for an inspection in the nation’s exclusive economic zone.
The Japanese fisheries agency said in a statement that officials had ordered the Chinese vessel, a trawler equipped with nets, to stop for an inspection around noon on Thursday after discovering it had entered Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea...
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