Why did China and the UK choose to compromise on Iceland’s request to expand its territorial waters?

Why did Iceland request to expand its territorial waters?

Iceland’s economy is very developed, and its fishery and geothermal resources are extremely rich. During the 2008 global financial crisis, the economy was in trouble, and Iceland was said to be the first case of "national bankruptcy". However, after the crisis, the Icelandic government quickly took measures, not only allowing the currency to depreciate, but even changed the past style of market economic liberalization and began to implement capital controls. What's more, the Icelandic government put many bankers in jail, which was really cruel. It is precisely because of this that the Icelandic economy recovered very quickly after the financial crisis and gradually emerged from the shadow of bankruptcy. The tough style of the Icelanders can be clearly seen in another case, that is, the two "Cod Wars" with the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1976, which were mainly caused by British fishing boats fishing for cod near Iceland.

In order to maximize the resources of cod and safeguard the interests of Icelandic fishermen, the Icelandic government has repeatedly announced that it will expand its territorial waters. In 1958, it announced that its territorial waters would be expanded to 12 nautical miles from the coast. location. August 30, 1958 was the deadline for the Icelandic government to require ships from other countries to leave the waters. After the deadline passed, except for the British fishing boats, all other countries' fishing boats left Iceland's 12 nautical mile limit. In order to protect British fishing boats, the British Royal Navy dispatched 37 ships and approximately 7,000 officers and soldiers to escort British fishing boats.

The outbreak of the Cod War

The British Navy, which had just experienced the baptism of World War II, was extremely rich in equipment and experience. At that time, there were only some old fishing boats converted into homemade gunboats in Iceland, and the soldiers were policemen and ordinary people with no combat experience. In addition, the total population of Iceland is less than 300,000, and the balance of power between the two is extremely disparate. The British government believes that Iceland dare not resist. Although Iceland is no match for Britain in terms of weapons and equipment, combat experience and national strength. However, in order to defend its national interests, Iceland resolutely fired cannons to drive away the invading British fishing boats. So the Cod Wars broke out.

British compromise

Of course, the Icelanders are not stupid. They are very aware of the power gap between them and the British. In order not to irritate the British, but to achieve a certain degree of deterrence. force, so when the Icelanders opened fire on British fishing boats, they deliberately avoided hurting the crew. Considering that both countries are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, if the war escalates, it will inevitably lead to intervention by the United States and other NATO countries. Therefore, the British do not dare to do anything to Iceland, and they themselves are unreasonable. Under constant interference and bombardment by the Icelanders, it can be said that the British fishing boats could not catch anything. So the British had to sit down and start negotiations with Iceland. In 1961, the United Kingdom officially recognized Iceland's 12-mile territorial sea line. However, Iceland is still not satisfied with this, claiming that it will further expand its territorial waters and politely giving the UK three years to adjust.