Senkaku Islands

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"Diaoyutai" redirects here. For the Chinese state guesthouse, see Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

The Diaoyutai Islands, or Senkaku Islands are a group of disputed, uninhabited islands currently controlled by Japan, but also claimed by both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) (Taiwan). The islands are located roughly northeast of Taiwan, due west of Okinawa, and due north of the end of the Ryukyu Islands in the East China Sea.

Their status has emerged as a major issue in foreign relations between China and Japan. Relations between the PRC and the ROC have also complicated the situation.

[edit] Naming

[edit] "Diaoyu Islands"

The first recorded naming of the islands dated back to the Ming Dynasty of China (14th-17th century) in such books as Journey to Ryu Kyu. The Chinese Imperial Map of the Ming Dynasty also used Diaoyudao Islands.

The Chinese name for the island group (Diaoyu) and the Japanese name for the main island (Uotsuri) both literally mean "Angling".

[edit] "Pinnacle Islands"

In the 19th century, the Pinnacle Islands or Pinnacle Group was an English-language name used for the rocks adjacent to, but not including, the largest island Uotsuri Jima/Diaoyu Dao (then called Hoa-pin-su). Neither Kuba Jima/Huangwei Yu (then called Ti-a-usu) nor Taishō Jima/Chiwei Yu (then called "Raleigh Rock") were part of the Pinnacle Islands either.[1] [2] [3]

However, in recent years the name "Pinnacle Islands" has come to be used to refer to the entire island group, as an English-language equivalent to "Diaoyu" or "Senkaku". [4] [5]

[edit] "Senkaku Islands"

In the late 19th century, Sentō Shosho (尖頭諸嶼?) and Senkaku Shosho (尖閣諸嶼?) were translations used for these "Pinnacle Islands" by various Japanese sources. Subsequently, the entire island group (including Uotsuri Jima/Diaoyu Dao and all the others) came to be called Senkaku Rettō, which later evolved into Senkaku Shotō. [6]

[edit] Geography

[edit] The islands group

The islands sit on the edge of the continental shelf of mainland Asia, and are separated from the Ryukyu Islands by a sea trench. Japan argues that these islets are part of the Ryukyu Islands. They are 170 kilometers (106 mi) north of Ishigaki Island, Japan; 186 km (116 mi) northeast of Keelung, Taiwan; and 410 km (255 mi) west of Okinawa Island.

The group is made up of five small non-volcanic islands:

[edit] Uotsuri Jima/Diaoyu Dao

Uotsuri Jima (魚釣島) or Diaoyu Dao (釣魚島本島 "Angling Island" or 主島) is the largest island of the Senkaku Islands. The Island located at 25°44′39″N, 123°28′26″E has an area of 4,3 km² (1,7 sq mi) and a highest elevation of 383m (1,256 ft). [2]

Uotsuri jima has a number of endemic species such as the Senkaku mole ( Nesoscaptor uchidai) and Okinawa-kuro-oo-ari ant, but these have become threatened by domestic goats that were introduced to the island in 1978 and whose population has increased to over 300 since that time.[7]

Aerial view of Uotsuri-jima / Diaoyu-dao
Aerial view of Uotsuri-jima / Diaoyu-dao
Senkaku/Diaoyutai/Pinnacle Islands
edit
Location of the islands (inside red rectangle and inset). 1 Uotsuri Jima/Diaoyu Dao, 2 Taisho Jima/Chiwei Yu, 3 Kuba Jima/Huangwei Yu, 4 Kita Kojima/Bei Xiaodao, 5 Minami Kojima/Nan Xiaodao, 6 Okino Kitaiwa/Da Bei Xiaodao, 7 Okino Minami-iwa/Da Nan Xiaodao, 8 Tobise/Feilai Dao
Location of the islands (inside red rectangle and inset).
1 Uotsuri Jima/Diaoyu Dao,
2 Taisho Jima/Chiwei Yu,
3 Kuba Jima/Huangwei Yu,
4 Kita Kojima/Bei Xiaodao,
5 Minami Kojima/Nan Xiaodao,
6 Okino Kitaiwa/Da Bei Xiaodao,
7 Okino Minami-iwa/Da Nan Xiaodao,
8 Tobise/Feilai Dao
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 釣魚台列嶼
Simplified Chinese 钓鱼岛
Japanese name
Kanji 尖閣諸島
Hepburn romanization Senkaku Shotō

Contents

[edit] Kuba Jima/Huangwei Yu

Kuba Jima (久場島) or Huangwei Yu (黃尾嶼 "Yellow Tail") is located at 25°55′23″N, 123°40′59″E has an area of 1.08 square kilometers (0.4 sq mi) and a highest elevation of 117 meters (384 ft). [3]

[edit] Taishō Jima/Chiwei Yu

Taishō Jima (大正島) or Chiwei Yu (赤尾嶼 "Red Tail") (also "Chi Yu", "Chikan Yu", "Chiwei Shan", "Chiwei Dao", "Chiwei Jiao") is located at 25°55′18″N, 124°33′34″E has an area of 0.609 square kilometers (0.2 sq mi) and a highest elevation of 75 meters (246 ft). [4] Both the People's Republic of China and Republic of China claim it as their easternmost island.

The US Navy used Kuba Jima/Huangwei Yu and Taisho Jima/Chiwei Yu as maneuver areas after World War II.

[edit] Kita Kojima/Bei Xiaodao

Kita Kojima or Bei Xiaodao (北小島 "Northern Islet") is located at 25°43′48″N, 123°32′33″E and has an area of 0.31 km² (77 acres) and a highest elevation of 125 m (410 ft). [5]

[edit] Minami Kojima/Nan Xiaodao

Minami Kojima or Nan Xiaodao (南小島 "Southern Islet") is located at 25°43′21″N, 123°33′07″E and has an area of 0.40 km² (100 acres) and a highest elevation of 139 m (456 ft).

Minami Kojima is one of the few breeding places of the rare Short-tailed Albatross.

[edit] Other islands

There are also three larger rocks:

  • Okino Kitaiwa (沖ノ北岩 Northern Rocks of the Offshore?) or Da Bei Xiaodao (大北小島 "Great northern small island") [6]
  • Okino Minami-iwa (沖ノ南岩 Southern Rocks of the Offshore?) or Da Nan Xiaodao (大南小島 "Great southern small island")[7]
  • Tobise (飛瀬 Stepping-Stones?) or Feilai Dao (飛瀬島 "Flying Shoal"), highest elevation 2m (6½ ft) [8]

[edit] Territorial dispute

The islands are currently administered by Japan as a part of Ishigaki City, Okinawa prefecture. According to both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC), the islands are part of Taiwan Province (Daxi Village (大溪里), Toucheng Township, Yilan County).

[edit] Beginning of the dispute

From the end of World War II until 1972, the United States occupied Okinawa, and controlled the disputed islands. In 1971, the US expressed its intention to hand over the occupied territories, including the disputed islands, to Japan. In response, both the PRC and ROC governments protested and reiterated their sovereignty over the islands. The ROC made the official announcement on June 11, 1971, followed by the PRC on December 30. Despite the Chinese protest, the United States handed over the disputed islands to Japan in 1972. However, the US has not taken a definitive position on the sovereignty position, treating the islands only as Japan's "administrative territory".

[edit] Chinese claims

The Chinese claim to Senkaku Islands, in brief, proceeds as follows. The islands were known to the Chinese at least since the Ming Dynasty, and were controlled by the Qing Dynasty along with Taiwan. They were ceded to Japan under an Unequal Treaty in 1895 along with Taiwan. Between 1895 and 1945, Japan administered the islands as part of Taiwan. An Unequal Treaty is null and void. Further, sovereignty in these islands were returned by Japan along with sovereign over Taiwan at the end of World War II.

[edit] Ming Dynasty claim

China claims that the islands were within the Ming Dynasty's sea-defense area and are a part of Taiwan.[8] According to the Chinese, China's sovereignty over the islands is dated to early 15th century, during the reign of the Ming Dynasty. The name Diaoyutai first appeared in 1403 in the Chinese book Voyage with the Tail Wind, which recorded the names of the islands that voyagers had passed on a trip from Fujian to the Ryukyu Kingdom. By 1534, all the major islets of the island group had been identified and named in the book Record of the Imperial Envoy to Ryukyu.[8]

[edit] 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). Zheng Chenggong and his successors established the Kingdom of Tungning and controlled the area until 1683. That year, Zheng's grandson Zheng Keshuang was defeated by Qing Dynasty forces led by Admiral Shi Lang. From then on, Qing Dynasty China gained effective control over Taiwan and its surrounding islands, including the islands in dispute today.[9]

[edit] Unequal Treaties

After losing the First Sino-Japanese War, Qing China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki on 17 April 1895. This Unequal Treaty ceded Taiwan and its surrounding islands to Japan. The Chinese governments see the disputed islands as having been included in the islands ceded to Japan by the treaty, because of the historical evidence discussed above, even though the Treaty did not explicitly enumerate all the islands ceded under it.

On this basis, they argue for Chinese sovereignty over the islands for two reasons. First, that all the Unequal Treaties are null and void and thus the islands are still part of Taiwan Province of China. [10] Secondly, that since the disputed islands were ceded along with Taiwan in 1895, therefore when Japan returned to China all territories it had obtained from China since the First Sino-Japanese War at the end of World War II, the disputed islands were returned along with Taiwan to China.

[edit] Tokyo court ruling

China also asserted that in 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 4 August 1971. The primary source of this paragraph can be found in the journal "Modern China Studies", Issue 1, 1997 (in Simplified Chinese). [9].

[edit] Japanese claims

The Japanese claim to the islands briefly proceeds as follows. The islands were not inhabited up to 1895. Several months prior to the cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty to Japan, Japan had already claimed and incorporated the islands into Japanese territory. As a result, the islands remained Japanese territory and were not affected by the retro-cession of Taiwan in 1945. Though the islands were controlled by the United States as occupying power between 1945 and 1972, Japan has since 1972 exercised sovereignty over the islands.

[edit] Formal incorporation

Japan claims that after the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government conducted surveys of the islands beginning in 1885 confirming no evidence that the uninhabited islands had been under Chinese control, though this conflicts with the earlier Chinese claim of the islands during the Qing Dynasty. At the time of this survey, Japan did not formally declare a claim to the islands. Instead, it waited until January 14, 1895, during the middle of the First Sino-Japanese War, to do this. Just three months prior to its military victory in the war and the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Japan erected a marker on the islands to formally incorporate them as its territory. This decision was not made public until 1950, however. [10] Four of the islands were subsequently borrowed and developed by the Koga family with the permission of the Japanese government.

[edit] History of Ming

Japanese scholars claim that neither China nor Ryukyu had recognized sovereignty over the uninhabited islands. Therefore, they claim that Chinese documents only prove that Kumejima, the first inhabited island reached by the Chinese, belonged to Okinawa. Kentaro Serita (芹田健太郎) of Kobe University points out that the official history book of the Ming Dynasty compiled during the Qing Dynasty, called the History of Ming (明史), describes Taiwan in the "Stories of Foreign Countries" (外国列传). Thus, China did not control the Senkaku Islands or Taiwan during the Ming Dynasty.[11] The contrary viewpoint is that this evidence goes only to verify the fact that the early Qing Dynasty (which compiled the book) saw Taiwan and its surrounding islands as outside its territory. For 39 years between the end of the Ming Dynasty and the conquest of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty, Taiwan was indeed ruled by a separate regime, the Kingdom of Tungning which swore loyalty to the Ming. Such evidence is thus not relevant to the Qing Dynasty's attitude towards the islands after its conquest of Taiwan.

[edit] A Letter from a Chinese Diplomat

In a letter sent to Japanese fishermen, who rescued a number of shipwrecked Chinese in 1920, a Chinese Consul in Nagasaki, representing the Beiyang Government, a warlord regime, referred to the islands as "Senkaku Islands,[citation needed] Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture, the Empire of Japan".[citation needed] Both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China point out that such arguments lend no value to Japan's claim post-1945, since Taiwan (including its surrounding islands) was ceded to Japan in 1895 as a result of the Sino-Japanese War and the Shimonoseki Treaty which concluded it (1895). Upon the returning of Taiwan and its surrounding islands to China after World War II, these islands, including Senkaku Islands, have become an inalienable part of China.

[edit] United States occupation

Japan claims that after World War II, the islands came under the United States occupation of Okinawa. During this period, the United States and the Ryūkyū Government administered the islands and the US Navy even used Kuba-jima and Taisho-jima as maneuver areas. In 1972, sovereignty over Okinawa, and arguably the surrounding islands, was handed back to Japan as part of the termination of United States Military Government jurisdiction over the Article 3 territories of the Treaty of San Francisco.

Supporters of ROC reject Japan's claim, stating that the ROC government maintains sovereignty over the islands. They assert that 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, and the US military applied each time to the ROC government, instead of to Japanese authorities, for authorization.[citation needed]

Supporters of ROC also argue that 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.[citation needed]

[edit] Recent developments

  • 1978: 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 island.
  • September 14, 1996: a US State Department spokesman referred to the US's neutral position on the Senkaku Islands issue.
  • September 26, 1996: David Chan (陳毓祥), a Hong Kong protester, drowns near the islets, after leaping off one of the protest vessels with several companions with the object of symbolizing Chinese claim of sovereignty.
  • October 7, 1996: Protesters plant the flags of the ROC and the PRC on the main island, but are later removed by Japanese authorities.
  • April 09, 1999: US Ambassador to Japan Thomas S. Foley said "we are not, as far as I understand, taking a specific position in the dispute.... we do not assume that there will be any reason to engage the security treaty in any immediate sense."
  • April 2002: The Japanese government leased Uotsuri and other islands from the purported 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 Japanese authorities for illegal entry. The Japanese Foreign Ministry forwarded a complaint to the PRC government, but the PRC in turn demanded the release of the activists. They were then sent to Japan and deported from there. Japan subsequently stated that it would prohibit anybody from landing on the islands without prior permission.
  • March 24, 2004: Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman at the US State Department said "The U.S. does not take a position on the question of the ultimate sovereignty of the Senkaku Diaoyu Islands."
  • 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 expected to be managed by the Japanese Coast Guard.
  • February 10, 2005: On Voice of America, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said that Japan's new assertiveness is in line with the desires of many Japanese politicians to take their country beyond its post-World War Two reliance on the United States. "It's a question of the evolution of Japanese thinking on its own. Japan has made it clear they want to resolve all of the territorial disputes by diplomatic means and that's certainly something that we agree with. Our kind of getting in the middle of it is probably not the most productive way to proceed."
  • 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 were held in July, but did not cover sovereignty issues.
  • March 17, 2006: Kyodo News reported the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer, presented that he considered "the Islands as territory of Japan" in his talk in Tokyo.[11]
  • October 27, 2006: A group of activists from Hong Kong, the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, including Tsang Kin Shing and several members of the April Fifth Action, approached the islands in order to show the support for Chinese claims to the Senkakus. They were stopped from landing on the islands by the Japan Coast Guard.[12] Later on, the PLAN conducted a military exercise in the area.[13]
  • June 10, 2008: The 270 ton sport fishing vessel Lien Ho of Taiwan was involved in a collision with the Japanese frigate Koshiki, and subsequently sank, while in the Japanese claimed territorial waters. While releasing the passengers, Japan initially detained the captain and sought reparations.[14][15] The captain has now been released and has returned to Taiwan. Liu Chao-shiuan, Premier of the Republic of China, has refused to rule out the use of force to defend Diaoyutai against Japanese advances.[16] The ROC government has recalled its chief representative to Japan in protest.[17]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Findlay, A.G.. A Directory for the Navigation of the Indian Archipelago and the Coast of China. London: Richard Holes Laurie, 1135. 
  2. ^ Navigating Lieutenant Frederick W. Jarrad, R.N. (1873). The China Sea Directory, Vol IV.. J.D.Potter for the Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, London, 141-142. Retrieved on 2007-06-04. 
  3. ^ Unryu Suganuma (2000). Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations. University of Hawaii Press, 95. ISBN 0824824938. Retrieved on 2007-07-23. 
  4. ^ Hagström, L.. Japan's China Policy: A Relational Power Analysis. Oxford: Routledge. 
  5. ^ Seokwoo Lee (2002). "Territorial Disputes among Japan, China and Taiwan concerning the Senkaku Islands", Boundary and Territory Briefing, Vol 3 No. 7.. International Boundaries Research Unit, 1. 
  6. ^ Unryu Suganuma (2000). Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations. University of Hawaii Press, 89-92. ISBN 0824824938. 
  7. ^ Yokohata, Y. (1999). "Urgent appeal for the conservation of the natural environment in Uotsuri-jima Island in Senkaku Islands, Japan". Recent advances in the biology of Japanese Insectivora . Proceedings of the Symposium on the biology of insectivores in Japan and on the wildlife conservation: 79-87, Laboratory of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Education, Toyama University. Retrieved on 2006-12-9. 
  8. ^ a b "China's Diaoyu Islands Sovereignty is Undeniable", People's Daily, 25-05-2003. Retrieved 24-02-2007.
  9. ^ 中國領土釣魚台, DiaoyuIslands.org. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
  10. ^ Tzou, Byron N. (1990). China and International Law: The Boundary Disputes. Praeger/Greenwood, 78. ISBN 0275934624. 
  11. ^ (ja) Kyodo News, March 17, 2006[1]
  12. ^ International Herald Tribune/Associated Press, October 26, 2006 "Activist ship from Hong Kong briefly enters Japan's waters in protest over islands"
  13. ^ (ja) Nihon Keizai Shimbun, November 5, 2006, "中国、東シナ海で軍事演習中に爆発事故"
  14. ^ "Taiwan fishing boat sunk by Japanese frigate"
  15. ^ "Taiwan protests as Japan holds fishing boat captain"
  16. ^ 聯合號船長晚間回國　劉揆要撤銷日本事務會 (Captain of the Lianhe returned to Taiwan tonight; Premier Liu wants to abolish Japan Affairs Association), China Times, Taipei 2008-06-13
  17. ^ Taiwan recalls top Japan rep as tensions rise over ship collision, Japan Today 15 June 2008

[edit] References

  • Suganuma, Unryu. Sovereign rights and territorial space in Sino-Japanese relations: Irredentism and the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. Honolulu: Association for Asian Studies and University of Hawai’i Press, 2000.

[edit] External links