China, South Korea Coast Guards Launch Joint Fishery Patrol in Provisional Waters

Joint fisheries enforcement between China and South Korea is a rare, low-drama form of maritime cooperation in a region where coast guard activity is usually adversarial, and it matters because it keeps a bilateral channel alive at a time when such channels are scarce. The practical effect is narrow: it covers only the provisional measures waters and only fishing vessels from the two countries, not broader maritime claims. The open question is whether this operational model extends beyond fisheries into other contested maritime issues, or remains an isolated, agreement-bound exception.