The Senkaku Islands dispute, or Diaoyu Islands dispute, is a territorial dispute over a group of uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, the Diaoyu Islands in China, and Tiaoyutai Islands in Taiwan. Japan incorporated the islands in 1895 and controlled them until the end of World War II in 1945, after which the United States controlled the islands, which it administered as part of the Ryukyu Islands. In 1972, the United States transferred the islands to Japan. The islands are administered as part of the Okinawa Prefecture.
The islands are positioned close to key shipping lanes and rich fishing grounds, and there may be oil reserves in the area. Japan argues that it surveyed the islands in the late 19th century and found them to be terra nullius (Latin: land belonging to no one); subsequently, China acquiesced to Japanese sovereignty until the 1970s. According to Lee Seokwoo, China started taking up the question of sovereignty over the islands in the latter half of 1970 when evidence relating to the existence of oil reserves surfaced.Lee, Seokwoo et al. (2002). Taiwan also claims the islands. The People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan argue that documentary evidence prior to the First Sino-Japanese War indicates historical Chinese possession and that the territory is accordingly a Japanese seizure that should be returned as the rest of the Empire of Japan's conquests were returned in 1945.
In September 2012, the Japanese government purchased three of the disputed islands from their private owner, prompting large-scale protests in China and Taiwan. Although Japan viewed its move as an attempt to defeat Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara's more provocative attempt to buy the islands to develop infrastructure on them, the Chinese side viewed the purchase as an effort by Japan to bring the islands under Japanese sovereignty. On 23 November 2013, the PRC set up the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone which includes the Senkaku Islands, and announced that it would require all aircraft entering the zone to file a flight plan and submit radio frequency or transponder information.
The islands are included within the 1960 Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, meaning that a defense of the islands by Japan would require the United States to come to Japan's aid.
Islands
The Senkaku Islands are located in the East China Sea between Japan, China, and Taiwan. The archipelago contains five uninhabited islands and three barren rocks, ranging in size from 0.002km2 to 3.81km2.
Beginnings
Following the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government formally annexed what was known as the Ryukyu Kingdom as Okinawa Prefecture in 1879. The Senkaku Islands, which lay between the Ryukyu Kingdom and the Qing empire, became the Sino-Japanese boundary for the first time.
In 1885, the Japanese Governor of Okinawa Prefecture, Nishimura Sutezo, petitioned the Meiji government, asking that it take formal control of the islands. However, Inoue Kaoru, the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, commented that the islands lay near to the border area with the Qing empire and that they had been given Chinese names. He also cited an article in a Chinese newspaper that had previously claimed that Japan was occupying islands off China's coast. Inoue was concerned that if Japan proceeded to erect a landmark stating its claim to the islands, it would make the Qing empire suspicious. Following Inoue's advice, Yamagata Aritomo, the Minister of the Interior, turned down the request to incorporate the islands, insisting that this matter should not be "revealed to the news media".
The dispute over the islands has its basis in the First Sino-Japanese War and the Treaty of Shimonoseki which concluded it. On 14 January 1895, during the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan incorporated the islands under the administration of Okinawa, stating that it had conducted surveys since 1884 and that the islands were terra nullius, with there being no evidence to suggest that they had been under the Qing empire's control. After China's defeat, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed in April 1895, requiring China to cede Taiwan (Formosa) and its associated islands to Japan.[Article II(b)], Treaty of Shimonoseki The treaty, however, did not clearly define the geographical scope of the "appertaining islands."
In the 1952 Treaty of San Francisco, Japan renounced sovereignty over Taiwan and its related islands. A disagreement remains between Japan, the PRC, and the ROC today as to whether the Senkaku Islands fall within the territories ceded in 1895. Both China and Taiwan claim sovereignty over the islands.Durdin, Tillman. "Peking Claims Disputed Oil-Rich Isles," The New York Times. 6 December 1970. China and Taiwan cite Yamagata Aritomo’s decision in 1885 not to incorporate the islands as evidence that they were historically excluded from Japanese territory.
The United States controlled the disputed islands after World War II. In 1972, the United States ended its occupation of Okinawa and the Ryukyu Island chain, which included the Senkaku Islands.Durdins, Tillman. "Okinawa Islands Returned by U.S. to Japanese Rule; Agnew, in Tokyo, Declares 'Last Major Issue' of the Pacific War Is Resolved U.S. Returns Okinawa to Japanese Rule," The New York Times. 15 May 1972. See also, Reversion to Japan of the Ryukyu and Daito Islands, official text Although the United States transferred administration of the islands to Japan as part of Okinawa, it did not take a position on the question of who their sovereign was.
Japan counters that the islands were placed under U.S. administration as part of the Ryukyu Islands under Article III of the San Francisco treaty, a status to which China did not object at the time. Japan further argues that the islands had been incorporated into Okinawa Prefecture prior to the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and that neither the treaty itself nor the negotiation records support the interpretation that the Senkaku Islands were included in the Formosa and the Pescadores, and therefore were not included in the territories ceded by China.
Lee Seokwoo, a Korean scholar of international law, notes the legal outcome of the dispute depends on the determination of the critical date—the point at which the territorial dispute crystallized. Lee concludes that the critical date should be 1971, when the dispute emerged with the signing of the Okinawa Reversion Treaty, rather than January 1895, and therefore "one is inclined to conclude that Japan has a stronger claim to the disputed islands". He states that the lack of objection from China or Taiwan during the 76 years constitutes a critical factor, emphasizing that historical evidence must be evaluated within the framework of international law regarding territorial acquisition, rather than as standalone history.
China and Taiwan positions Pre-1970s position
Prior to the 1970s, neither the PRC nor the Republic of China governments made any official statements claiming sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands or disputing the sovereignty claims of other countries over it. Several maps, newspaper articles, and government documents from both countries after 1945 refer to the islands by their Japanese name, and some even explicitly recognize their status as Japanese territory. It was only the early 1970s that Chinese documents began to name them collectively as the Diaoyu Islands and as Chinese territory., citing .
In 1953, the People's Daily, the official organ of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), referred to the Senkaku Islands by the Japanese name "Senkaku Shotō" and described the islands were a part of (then) U.S.-occupied Ryukyu Islands. In an article published on 8 January 1953 titled "Battle of people in the Ryukyu Islands against the U.S. occupation"琉球群岛人民反对美国占领的斗争 the People's Daily wrote "The Ryukyu Islands lie scattered on the sea between the Northeast of Taiwan of China and the Southwest of Kyushu, Japan. They consist of 7 groups of islands; the Senkaku Islands, the Sakishima Islands, the Daitō Islands, the Okinawa Islands, the Oshima Islands, the Tokara Islands and the Ōsumi Islands."Representative Office of Japan to PNA, Newsletter #2, November 2010; see Item 3 ; "... an article in the People's Daily dated January 8, 1953, under the title of "Battle of people in the Ryukyu Islands against the U.S. occupation", made clear that the Ryukyu Islands consist of 7 groups of islands including the Senkaku Islands"; accord Embassy of Japan in Israel, Newsletter #2, October 2010 see Item 4 .; "In his book "Gendai Chugoku Nenpyo" (Timeline on modern China), Masashi Ando referred to a People's Daily article dated 8 January 1953, which makes reference to the "Senkaku Islands in Okinawa".; read Google Chinese-English translation
A Chinese diplomatic draft written by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of PRC on 15 May 1950 referred to the Senkaku Islands by the Japanese names "Senkaku shotō" and "Sentō Shosho" and indicated Chinese recognition of the islands as part of the Ryukyu Islands. The 10-page document titled "Draft outline on issues and arguments on parts concerning territories in the peace treaty with Japan"对日和约中关于领土部份问题与主张提纲草案 says the Ryukyus "consist of three parts—northern, central, and southern. The central part comprises the Okinawa Islands, whereas the southern part comprises the Miyako Islands and the Yaeyama Islands (Sentō Shosho)."北中南三部 中部是沖縄諸島(...) 南部是宮古群島和八重山群島(尖頭諸嶼) The parentheses appear in the original. It also says "It should be studied whether the Senkaku Islands should be incorporated into Taiwan due to an extremely close distance,"东經123° – 125° 北纬25° 30' – 26° 間之尖閣諸島及东經124° – 125° 北纬25° 30' – 26° 間之赤尾嶼亦是台灣甚近是非應划入台灣亦須研究 suggesting that the Chinese government did not consider the islands to be part of Taiwan. The passages leave no doubt that Beijing regarded the Senkaku Islands as part of the Ryukyu Islands as of 1950.
There are many official maps published by both Chinas after 1945 that support they did not recognize their sovereignty over the islands and they recognized the islands as Japanese territory. The PRC has been cracking down on "erroneous" maps in both print and digital forms, and government agencies have handled 1,800 cases involving map irregularities and confiscated 750,000 maps since 2005. The National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation said "as China is involved in several disputes with neighboring countries, it is vital to raise public awareness of the country's due territory."
An atlas made by the Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (中国国家测绘总局) in 1969 referred to the overall group of islands by the Japanese name "Senkaku Guntō" (尖閣群島). The name of Uotsuri Island, the westernmost island in the group, was written in the Japanese name "Uotsuri-shima" (魚釣島).
From 1946 to 1971, the Taiwan Statistical Abstract published by the Taiwanese Provincial Government stated "the easternmost point of Taiwan is Mianhua Islet and the northernmost point is Pengjia Islet", excluding the Senkaku islands. In 1972, immediately after the Executive Yuan of the ROC announced that the islands belonged to Yilan County of Taiwan Province in December 1971, the description was revised and the points were extended to the Senkaku Islands: "the easternmost point of Taiwan is Taishō-jima and the northernmost point is Kuba-jima."