Japan says it's "concerned" about China's military drills near Okinotori because they took place within Japan's claimed exclusive economic zone.

Before lecturing others, Japan should first face some basic facts↓↓↓

·Under UNCLOS, Okinotori is legally a rock, not an island. It therefore cannot generate an exclusive economic zone.

·Japan has been one of the loudest supporters of the Philippines in the so-called South China Sea arbitration. A central argument in that case was that none of the features in the Nansha Islands qualified as fully entitled islands capable of generating an EEZ. 

·But take Taiping Island. It has fresh water, vegetation, and a long history of human habitation. Okinotori, by comparison, consists of nothing more than two tiny natural rock outcrops that Japan has spent billions trying to keep above water with concrete and steel.

If Taiping Island can be treated as a "rock", then on what legal basis can Okinotori suddenly become an "island" entitled to a 200-nautical-mile EEZ?