Senkaku Islands Geography Political Dispute Chinese Rule Or

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.

2 Political Dispute

The islands are administered by Japan as part of Ishigaki CityIshigaki (; -shi) is a city located in Okinawa, Japan. As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 43,769 and the density of 191. 21 persons per km². The total area is 228. The city was founded on July 10, 1947. External link in Japanese Ryukyu Is , Okinawa prefecture, but claimed by China as part of Daxi Village (大溪里), Toucheng Township (頭城鎮), Yilan CountyYilan County Yilan County emblem Abbreviation: Yilan ( Capital Yilan City Region Northeastern Taiwan County magistrate Liu Shou-ch'eng Area Ranked 6 of 18 Total % water 2,143. 6251 km² (Percent water goes here)% Population Ranked 12 of 18 Total ( April 20, Taiwan ProvinceTaiwan Province is an administrative subdivision of the Republic of China (ROC) that includes most of the Taiwan Island and surrounding islets, and the Pescadores. Even though the province-level municipalities of Taipei City and Kaohsiung City are on the.

2.1 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 nulliusTerra nullius is a Latin expression meaning "empty land" or "no man's land". The term refers to a 17th century legal fiction that permitted European colonial powers to assume control of land that was unclaimed (at least by each other). The principle was e.

These islands were on the sea route between Okinawa Mainland and FujianFujian (; alternate spellings Fukien Foukien pinyin Fujian Wade-Giles Fu-chien local transliteration Hokkien from Min-nan Hok-kian is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China. The name Fujian comes from the combination of Fuzhou and Jian'ou, t. 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.

2.2 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 Proclamation, 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.

2.3 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.

2.4 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.

In 1988, the Japan Youth Association set up a lighthouse on the main island. On July 14, 1996 they built a 5-m high, solar-powered, aluminum lighthouse on another islet. A Hong Kong protester drowned on September 26, trying to swim to Uotsuri-jima . On October 7, protesters placed the flags of the ROC and the PRC on the main island, but they were later removed by the Japanese.

On March 24, 2004, a group of Chinese activists from the PRC landed on the islands, planning to stay on the islands for 3 days. The seven who landed on the island were arrested by the Japanese government for illegal entry. The Japanese Foreign Ministry forwarded a complaint to the PRC government, and the PRC in turn demanded their release. They were then deported from Japan.

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.

3 See also

Sino-Japanese relations

4 External links

History
Basic View on Senkaku (by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Senkaku @BBC

Disputed territories

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1 Geography