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Senkaku Islands

(Redirected from Diaoyu Islands)

The islands known as the Senkaku Islands (尖閣諸島; -Shoto) in Japanese and Diaoyutai Islands or Diaoyu Islands (钓鱼台列岛; pinyin: Diàoyútái Lièdǎo, written 釣魚台列嶼 Diaoyutai Lieyu in Taiwan) in Chinese are disputed islands administered by Japan but claimed by the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (Republic of China).

Contents

Geography

The group is made up of five small volcanic islands:

  • Uotsuri-jima (魚釣島) or Diaoyu Dao (釣魚島本島 or 主島): 4.319 km²
  • Kuba-jima (久場島) or Huangwei Yu (黃尾嶼 "Yellow Tail"): 1.08 km²
  • Taisho-jima (大正島) or Chiwei Yu (赤尾嶼 "Red Tail")
  • Kita Kojima or Beixiao Dao (北小島 "Northern Islet")※
  • Minami Kojima or Nanxiao Dao (南小島 "Southern Islet")※

And three rocks:

  • Okino Kitaiwa (沖ノ北岩 "Northern Rocks of the Open Sea") -No Chinese name
  • Okino Minamiiwa (沖ノ南岩 "Southern Rocks of the Open Sea") -No Chinese name
  • Tobise (飛瀬 "Flying Shoal") -No Chinese name

※Chinese name derived from the Japanese name

In Japan these are considered part of the Southwest Islands. They are 170 km north of Ishigaki Islands , Japan, 170 km northeast of Keelung, Taiwan and 410 km west of Okinawa Mainland . The islands sit on the edge of the continental shelf of mainland Asia, and are separated from the Ryukyu islands by a deep sea trench.

Political Dispute

Note: China refers to both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) if unspecified.

The islands are administered by Japan as part of Ishigaki City , Okinawa prefecture, but claimed by China as part of Daxi Village (大溪里), Toucheng Township (頭城鎮), Yilan County, Taiwan Province.

Chinese rule or terra nullius

China claims that she had already ruled these islands before Japan controlled them while Japan claims that they were terra nullius.

These islands were on the sea route between Okinawa Mainland and Fujian. Chinese envoys to the Ryukyu Kingdom and, in far higher frequency, Okinawan ships passed by them.

China claims that these islands were within Ming's sea-defense area and belonged to Taiwan. The Chinese claimed that the islands were first mentioned in literature in 1372. The islands were first documented during the Ming Dynasty, by royal visitors from Ming China to the Ryukyu Kingdom at the current Okinawa prefecture of Japan. The documentation mentions, "When crossing the sea, we could see black [ocean] current underneath. The guide said, after passing this black current, they will leave the boundary of China. At this stage, we can see a series of islands that cannot be seen in the return trip." During the Qing Dynasty, when the ex-Ming Dynasty general Zheng Jing was defeated, Taiwan and its surrounding islands became under the control of the Qing. The islands were used only as a landmark for the trip to Ryukyu kingdoms. Some Chinese insist that during the Cixi era, the islands were presented as a gift to a mandarin "for the purpose of collecting herbs on the islands," but its credibility is questioned.

Japanese scholars claims that neither China nor Okinawa had recognition of sovereignty over the uninhabited islands so that Chinese documents only prove that Kumejima, the first inhabited island the Chinese met, belonged to Okinawa. Japanese scholars show that the History of Ming, the official history book of the Ming Dynasty compiled during the Qing period, classifies Taiwan and surrounding island to "foreign countries". They also bring official Chinese records about Taiwan or Fujian that never mention these islands. Anyway, it is certain that no one effectively controlled them.

Japan's formal incorporation and the Treaty of Shimonoseki

After the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese Government conducted surveys of the islands from 1885 that confirmed for her that these uninhabited islands had no trace of having been under the control of China. Thus Japan decided to erect a marker on the islands to formally incorporate them in a Cabinet Decision on 14 January 1895. Among these islands, four islands were borrowed and developed by the Koga family.

Today China does not approve Japan's formal incorporation and claims that it is the Treaty of Shimonoseki on April 17, 1895, in which China ceded Taiwan to Japan, also ceded the islands, although the treaty lacks the explicit mention to them. Thus China claims that they should have been returned together with Taiwan after World War II, under provisions of the Cairo Declaration, Potsdam Declaration, and Article 2 of the San Francisco Treaty. However, in her testimonial in 1920 the ROC admitted that they belonged to the Yaeyama District of Okinawa Prefecture, and the contents of the San Francisco Treaty itself regarding Taiwan (and by extension, the disputed islands) are sometimes disputed.

U.S. occupation

After World War II, the islands came under the U.S. occupation as part of Okinawa. The U.S. and the Ryukyu Government under the U.S. occupation explicitly ruled these island, and the U.S. navy used Kuba-jima and Taisho-jima as maneuver areas. In 1972 the islands were returned from the U.S. to Japan as part of Okinawa.

Japanese scholars point out that it was not so difficult for the ROC to occupy these island in 1945 because she had already incorporated Taiwan and the surrounding islands two months before the U.S. military occupation extended to Yaeyama Islands. Thus they claim that this proves her lack of willingness to own the islands. They also bring official Chinese publications that show the island as part of Okinawa.

Beginning of the dispute

It was not until a survey in 1968 found potential oil fields on the East China Sea that both Chinas claimed sovereignty over the islands. The ROC claimed them for the first time on June 11, 1971, which was followed by the PRC on December 30.

An additional ground upon which ROC based its claim is the 1944 Tokyo Court ruling which decreed that the islands falls under the jurisdiction of the Taipei Prefecture, rather than Okinawa.

Recent Developments

  • 1988: The Japan Youth Association set up a lighthouse on the main island.
  • July 14, 1996: The Japan Youth Association builds a 5-m high, solar-powered, aluminum lighthouse on another islet.
  • October 7, 1996: Protesters plant the flags of the ROC and the PRC on the main island, but they were later removed by the Japanese.
  • March 24, 2004: A group of Chinese activists from the PRC lands, planning to stay on the islands for 3 days. The seven who land on the island are arrested by the Japanese government for illegal entry. The Japanese Foreign Ministry forwards a complaint to the PRC government, and the PRC in turn demands their release. They were then deported from Japan.

Public Opinion & Official Positions

  • The U.S., who once occupied the islands as part of Okinawa, states that the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security is applied to them, although she carefully avoids any involvement in the dispute itself.
  • Though officially Taiwan claims sovereignty over the islands, the dispute has generally not been considered to be a pressing issue in recent years. Public opinion remains mostly indifferent, though hardcore supporters of Chinese unification tend to be in favor of a more hardline stance, while hardcore supporters of Taiwan independence tend to lean more towards accepting Japan's claim (not least because of the concern that the islands might fall into PRC hands).

See also

External links

  • History http://www-ibru.dur.ac.uk/docs/senkaku.html
  • Basic View on Senkaku http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/senkaku/senkaku.html (by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
  • Senkaku @BBC http://newssearch.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=newsifs&tab=news&q=S
    enkaku&go.x=31&go.y=16


Last updated: 02-08-2005 00:19:55
Last updated: 05-06-2005 01:27:49