Temperature Different Between Korea, China Over Ieodo
By Sunny Lee
Korea Times Correspondent
BEIJING ― On the Ieodo issue, the temperature is certainly different between Korea and China. In Korea, it's hot; in China it's lukewarm.
The Chinese state-controlled media, practically all the newspapers, radio and television in the nation, have been keeping mum on it.
As for the change of the Chinese government body Web site that had dropped China's territorial claim on Ieodo, after a protest from the Korean government, only to reinstate it a day later, an observer in China commented:
``My view is that the Chinese were quite alarmed after seeing the overwhelming clamoring on the issue in Korea. So, they hurriedly went ahead to delete it from the Internet. But then, these folks realized that the government's official stance on the matter hasn't changed. So, they reinstated it."
According to him China thinks it's strange for the Korean media to raise the issue at this time when the same Web site content has been there for almost a year.
The Chinese government Web site, the China Oceanic Information Network, on December 24, 2007, posted an article that said, "Suyanjiao (Ieodo in Chinese) is located within the Chinese Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and thus is a Chinese territory."
"The Web site has been that way for a long time. I think the Korean news outlets want to bring it up now because they feel that that issue needs to be discussed at the upcoming China-Korea summit, which I think is highly doubtful," he said, adding "The two governments may have different priorities such as North Korea and economic cooperation frontier."
He also pointed out the problem with, what he sees, as the "inflammatory manner" in which the issue was covered in Korea. "If I were a Korean reporter, I would have waited for a couple of days after China had taken down the Ieodo claim from its Web site, to see whether it reflects a permanent change. I would also inquire of the Chinese government why they dropped it.
"Many Korean reporters didn't do their job. They just got all worked up and went about writing it big time, creating a negative public opinion in Korea about China. The Korean public would take it very sensitively, particularly this is a time when Korea deals with the Dokdo issue with Japan," he said.
While Korea believes that China has a territorial ambition on Ieodo, China also thinks that Korea has one.
On December 14, 2006, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, Ieodo is a "submerged rock located in the north of the East China Sea, which both Korea and China say are part of its EEZ and there is no territorial dispute. China opposes any unilateral action by Korea. Such action will not have any legal effect."
Korea, which has had actual control over Ieodo, then set up a science research facility. China suspects that move shows that Korea has an ulterior motive, also pointing out the fact that on Ieodo, the Korean flag is conspicuously raised high in the air, while the same Korean flag emblem is painted on the western wall of the facility. The facility also has an "off limits" sign, written in Chinese.
China thinks that the facility is not just a scientific research center or a monitoring center for the oceanic environment, but shows Korea's hidden territorial ambitions.
The suspicion was raised when last August, the local government of Jeju Island, the closet administrative authority from Ieodo, tried to establish "Ieodo Day."
"Eventually, I believe the issue should be resolved through an international body, based on the relevant international law and rules," the observer in China said.