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| The {{nihongo|'''Senkaku Islands'''|尖閣諸島|Senkaku Shotō}} are a group of uninhabited ]s currently under ]ese control, but also claimed by the ] and the ] (Taiwan), by whom they are known as the |
The {{nihongo|'''Senkaku Islands'''|尖閣諸島|Senkaku Shotō}} are a group of uninhabited ]s currently under ]ese control, but also claimed by the ] and the ] (Taiwan), by whom they are known as the '''Diaoyutai Islands''' ((]|'''Diaoyutai Islands'''|钓鱼台群岛|Diàoyútái Qúndǎo}}. They are also known as the "Pinnacle Islands", a name given by British navigators, which is also the probable source of the Japanese name. The Chinese name literally means "Angling Platform Islands" or "Angling Islands". | ||
| Though these islands are too small to be pictured on most maps, their status has emerged as a major issue in ]. | Though these islands are too small to be pictured on most maps, their status has emerged as a major issue in ]. | ||
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The Senkaku Islands (尖閣諸島, Senkaku Shotō) are a group of uninhabited islands currently under Japanese control, but also claimed by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan), by whom they are known as the Diaoyutai Islands ((Chinese|Diaoyutai Islands|钓鱼台群岛|Diàoyútái Qúndǎo}}. They are also known as the "Pinnacle Islands", a name given by British navigators, which is also the probable source of the Japanese name. The Chinese name literally means "Angling Platform Islands" or "Angling Islands".
Though these islands are too small to be pictured on most maps, their status has emerged as a major issue in Sino-Japanese relations.
Geography
- Total island area: 7 km²
- Population: 0
- Geographic coordinates: 25°58' - 25°41'45" N, 123°27'45" - 124°41'30" E
The group is made up of five small volcanic islands:
- Uotsuri-jima (魚釣島)⊕ or Diaoyu Dao (釣魚島本島 "Fishing Island" or 主島): area 4.319 km², highest elevation 383 m
- 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")※: highest elevation 135 m
- Minami Kojima or Nanxiao Dao (南小島 "Southern Islet")※: highest elevation 149 m
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
(The People's Republic of China refused to name what they considered, "a bunch of pointless rocks out in the ocean.") Japanese name literally derived from the Chinese name ※Chinese name derived from the Japanese name
In Japan, the islands are considered part of the Southwest Islands. They are 170 km north of Ishigaki Island, Japan; 170 km northeast of Keelung, Taiwan; and 410 km west of Okinawa Island. The PRC claims that the islands sit on the edge of the continental shelf of mainland Asia, and are separated from the Ryukyu Islands by a sea trench, while Japan considers that the continental shelf stretches to the much deeper Nansei-shoto Trench, east to the Southwest Islands and that the islands and the Ryukyu Islands are on the same continental shelf.
Territorial dispute
- Note: China refers to both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC) if unspecified.
The islands are currently controlled by Japan as part of Ishigaki City, Okinawa prefecture, but claimed by China as part of Taiwan province (Daxi Village (大溪里), Toucheng Township, Yilan County, Taiwan Province).
Chinese claims
Ming dynasty claim
China claims that the islands were within the Ming Empire's sea-defense area and were part of Taiwan. According to the Chinese, the islands were first mentioned in literature in 1372 and were first documented during the Ming Dynasty by royal visitors travelling from Ming China to the Ryukyu Kingdom, located in what is now Japan's Okinawa prefecture. The documentation states: "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 on the return trip."
Qing dynasty claim
From 1624 until 1662, Taiwan and its surrounding islands were controlled by the Dutch as a base for commerce. In 1662, the Dutch were driven out by ex-Ming dynasty general Zheng Chenggong, (more popularly known as Koxinga). In turn, Zheng Chenggong and his successors controlled Taiwan and its surrounding islands until 1683, when Zheng Chenggong's grandson, Zheng Ke-Shuang, was defeated by forces from Qing dynasty China led by Admiral Shi Lang. From then on, Qing dynasty China gained effective control over Taiwan and its surrounding islands, including the Senkaku Islands.
Treaty of Shimonoseki and the Receding of Chinese territories
After losing the First Sino-Japanese War, China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki on 17 April, 1895. The unequal treaty ceded Taiwan and its surrounding islands to Japan, although without explicitly mentioning the Senkaku Islands. Today, China claims that the islands should have been returned to Chinese sovereignty together with Taiwan after World War II, under provisions of the Cairo Declaration, Potsdam Declaration, and Article 2 of the San Francisco Treaty and the Treaty of Taipei.
Tokyo court ruling
China also asserted that in the year 1944, the Tokyo court ruled that the islands were part of Taihoku Prefecture (Taipei Prefecture), following a dispute between Okinawa Prefecture and Taihoku Prefecture. However, the assertion was solely based on a "claim" by the president of the fishermen's association of Keelung city in August, 4, 1971. The primary source of this paragraph can be found in the journal "Modern China Studies", issue 1, 1997 (in Simplified Chinese). .
Japanese claims
Formal incorporation
Japan claims that after the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government conducted surveys of the islands beginning in 1885 which confirmed that there was no evidence that the uninhabited islands had been under Chinese control. However, this conflicts with the earlier Chinese claim of the islands during the Qing dynasty. The Japanese government did not formally declare a claim to the islands in 1885 at the time of this survey. Instead, it waited until 14 January 1895, during the middle of the First Sino-Japanese War, to do this. Either in ignorance or in spite of the Chinese claim, in a cabinet decision on, Japan decided to erect a marker on the islands to formally incorporate them into its territory, just three months before the military defeat of Qing dynasty China and the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. This decision was subsequently not publicized until 50 years later in 1950. Four of the islands were borrowed and developed by the Koga family.
"History of Ming"
Japanese scholars claim that neither China nor Okinawa had recognized sovereignty over the uninhabited islands, and therefore the Chinese documents only prove that Kumejima, the first inhabited island reached by the Chinese, belonged to Okinawa. Prof. Emeritus ASHIDA Kentaro (芦田健太郎) of Kobe University points out that the History of Ming (明史), the official history book of the Ming dynasty compiled during the Qing dynasty, described Taiwan in the "Stories of Foreign Countries" (外国列伝) and therefore, China did not controlled the Senkaku Islands nor Taiwan. However, this point is arguably irrelevant because of the Chinese claim that Qing dynasty China gained control of Taiwan and its surrounding islands in 1683, which was 39 years after the fall of the Ming dynasty.
Beiyang warlord admission
In a testimonial in 1920, a diplomat from the Chinese Beiyang warlord government admitted that the islands belonged to the Yaeyama District of Okinawa Prefecture. Taiwan and its surrounding islands were ceded to Japan in 1895 in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. However, the Chinese government argues that Taiwan and its surrounding islands were returned to Chinese sovereignty after the World War II in 1945. (See Cairo Communiqué)
United States occupation
Japan claims that after World War II, the islands came under the US occupation as part of Okinawa. During the US occupation, the US and the Ryukyu Government explicitly ruled the islands, and the US Navy used Kuba-jima and Taisho-jima as maneuver areas. In 1972 the islands were returned from the US to Japan as part of Okinawa.
Japanese scholars point out that it would not have been difficult for the Republic of China (ROC) to occupy these islands in 1945, because she had already incorporated Taiwan and the surrounding islands two months before the US military occupation was extended to the Yaeyama Islands. Thus, they claim that this proves her lack of willingness to own the islands. They also point to official Chinese publications that show the islands as part of Okinawa.
Scholars from Taiwan reject Japan's claim, pointing out that the ROC government does possess sovereignty over the islands. When US forces were stationed on Taiwan during the Cold War, military maneuvers were periodically held which required the use of the islands as an aerial bombing target. The US military applied each time to the ROC government, instead of to Japanese authorities, for authorization.
According to Taiwanese sources, the 1954 ROC-US Mutual Defense Treaty contains wording implying that the ROC controlled the islands. The ROC government and the US later agreed to have US forces patrol the area several miles north of the island of Taiwan; thus the ROC had agreed to have US forces patrol the area around the islands.
Beginning of the dispute
A survey in 1968 found potential oil fields on the East China Sea, drawing attention to the islands. The Beijing and Taipei governments subsequently pressed their claims of sovereignty over the islands. The ROC claimed them for the first time on 11 June 1971, which was followed by the PRC on 30 December. Japan responded by counter-claiming (and, arguably, controlling) the islands. Heightened awareness of the island led to the activities listed in the following section.
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.
- September 26, 1996: David Chan (陳毓祥), a Hong Kong protester, drowns while trying to swim to the main island with several companions.
- 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.
- April 2002: The Japanese government leased Uotsuri and other islands from the private owners
- March 24, 2004: A group of Chinese activists from the PRC planned to stay on the Islands for three days. The seven people who landed on the Islands were arrested by the Japanese authorities for illegal entry. The Japanese Foreign Ministry forwarded a complaint to the PRC government, but the PRC in turn demanded the Activists' release. They were then deported from Japan. Japan subsequently banned anybody from landing on the islands without prior permission.
- February 2005 Japan planned to take ownership of a privately owned lighthouse on Uotsuri, after it was offered to them by the owner, a fisherman living on Ishigaki, Okinawa. The lighthouse is planned to be managed by the Japanese Coast Guard.
- June 2005: The ROC dispatched a ROCN frigate into disputed waters (but did not go as far as the islands) after Taiwanese fishing vessels were harassed by Japanese patrol boats. The frigate, which was carrying Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng and ROC Defense Minister Lee Jye, was not challenged and returned to Taiwan without incident. Fisheries talks between Taipei and Tokyo in July discussed fishing rights but did not cover sovereignty issues.
See also
- Sino-Japanese relations
- China Federation for Defending the Diaoyu Islands
- History of Taiwan
- Koxinga
- Okinotori
- Zheng Ke-Shuang
External links
- Basic View on Senkaku (by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- Article by Professor Koji Taira
- Article by Kiyoshi Inoue Professor of History department Kyoto University
- Senkaku @BBC
- Article by globalsecurity.org (with some maps)
- Law School Article by William Heflin
- Article "China's Diaoyu Islands Sovereignty is Undeniable" at People's Daily Online