Kuba Jima/Huangwei Yu
Kuba Jima (久場島) or Huangwei Yu (黃尾嶼) is located at has an area of and a highest elevation of .
Japanese Map 2
Taishō Jima/Chiwei Yu
Taishō Jima (大正島) or Chiwei Yu (赤尾嶼) is located at has an area of and a highest elevation of .
Japanese Map 3 Both the
People's Republic of China and
Republic of China claim it as their island.
The
US Navy used Kuba Jima/Huangwei Yu and Taisho Jima/Chiwei Yu as maneuver areas after
World War II.
Kita Kojima/Bei Xiaodao
Kita Kojima (北小島) or Bei Xiaodao is located at
and has an area of and a highest elevation of .
Japanese Map 4
Nan Xiaodao/Minami Kojima
Minami Kojima or Nan Xiaodao (南小島) is located at and has an area of and a highest elevation of .
This island is one of the few breeding places of the rare
Short-tailed Albatross (
Phoebastria albatrus).
Other islands
There are also three larger rocks:
- Chinese: Da Bei Xiaodao (), Japanese: , Coordinates: ; Japanese Map 6
- Chinese: Da Nan Xiaodao (), Japanese: , Coordinates: ; Japanese Map 7
- Chinese: Yan Jiao Yan, Fei Jiao Yan or Yan Jiao Lai (), Japanese: or , highest elevation 2m (6½ ft), Coordinates: . Japanese Map 8
Territorial dispute
The islands were claimed by Japan in January 1895 and were registered in the land registry of Yaeyama-gun (administrative center: Ishigaki Island) in 1896. They 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), China's sovereignty is dated as early as the 15th century. After the start of the dispute, Republic of China registered the islands as part of
Taiwan Province (Daxi Village (大溪里),
Toucheng Township,
Yilan County. The postal code for Diaoyutai Islands in
Chunghwa Post's system is 290.
Beginning of the dispute
The dispute appears to date from the 1968 announcement by two Japanese scientists that there may be large reservoirs of oil under the continental shelf below the islands.
John Tkacik ON TAIWAN: Clear signal needed on disputed isles, Taipei Times, 27 June 2008 The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea gives a 200 nautical mile "exclusive economic zone" and sovereignty over the seabed resources therein, meaning that whoever owned the Senkakus would gain economic control over important seabed resources.
From the end of
World War II until 1972, the
United States occupied
Okinawa, and controlled the islands, whose ownership was undisputed until 1970, when both the PRC and the ROC began to claim that the disputed islands were given to Japan in the
Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 and should therefore be returned to Taiwan (after the end of
World War II in 1945, all "unequal treaties" forced on China were declared void, including the
Treaty of Shimonoseki, concluded in 1895). In 1969, the US expressed its intention to hand over the occupied territories, including the disputed islands, to
Japan.
Joint Statement by President Nixon and Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, 21 November 1969 Both the PRC and ROC governments protested and reiterated their claim to sovereignty over the islands. The ROC made the official announcement on 11 June 1971, followed by the PRC on 30 December. However, the United States handed over the disputed islands to Japan as of May 15, 1972,
Military Occupation and the San Francisco Peace Treaty even though they have not taken a definitive position on the sovereignty of the territory, considering the islands an "administrative territory" of Japan.
Chinese claims
The Chinese claim to Senkaku Islands, in brief, proceeds as follows: the islands were known to the Chinese at least (and possibly as early as
770 BC ~
221 BC, from a passage in the
Shan Hai Jing, chapter "Haineibei jing") 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. Unequal treaties are null and void; however, more importantly, none of the Allies recognized any transfer of the territorial sovereignty of either Taiwan or any nearby islands to the ROC at any time during the 1940s or 1950s. In a 1959 court case in the United States, the US State Dept. was specifically quoted as maintaining that: " . . . that the sovereignty of Formosa has not been transferred to China . . . " and that "Formosa is not a part of China as a country, at least not as yet, and not until and unless appropriate treaties are hereafter entered into. Formosa may be said to be a territory or an area occupied and administered by the Government of the Republic of China, but is not officially recognized as being a part of the Republic of China."
After WWII, due to the civil war between competing PRC and ROC factions in China, both parties did not place their focus on the islands to avoid further disputes.
From 1945 to 1971, the Chinese remained undefined positions to claim back the sovereignty and administration on the islands. Not until 1971 when the US expressed its intention to hand over the disputed islands to Japan, both the PRC and ROC governments protested and reiterated their sovereignty over the islands. The Chinese claim came late and Japan used this chance to exercise administration on the islands.
Ming Dynasty claim
China claims that the islands were within the
Ming Dynasty's sea-defense area and are a part of
Taiwan.
"China's Diaoyu Islands Sovereignty is Undeniable", People's Daily, 25-05-2003. Retrieved 24-02-2007. 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 (順風相送), 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(使琉球錄).
Qing Dynasty claim
From 1624 until 1662, Taiwan and some of its surrounding islands, though not the Senkakus, 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.
中國領土釣魚台, DiaoyuIslands.org. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
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. 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.
However, the United States, as principal victor over Japan, has consistently maintained that there was no "return" of island territories to China after the close of hostilities in WWII, either due to the Japanese surrender ceremonies, or according to the specifications of the post-war treaties. The Starr Memorandum of the US State Dept., issued in Oct. 1971, is often quoted as an authoritative reference on this subject.
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).http://www.chinayj.net/StubArticle.asp?issue=970111&total=56
Japanese claims
The Japanese claim to the islands briefly proceeds as follows: the islands were not inhabited up to 1895; several months before 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 would not be 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 administration over the islands. According to Japanese government, PRC and ROC have come to claim the sovereignty since a submarine oil field was discovered near these islands. In addition, former
President of Republic of China Lee Teng-hui also once considers the Senkaku Islands are part of Okinawa.
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 14 January 1895, during the middle of the
First Sino-Japanese War, to do this. Just three months before 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.http://english.people.com.cn/200305/25/eng20030525_117192.shtml Four of the islands were subsequently borrowed and developed by the Koga family with the permission of the Japanese government.
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.http://akebonokikaku.hp.infoseek.co.jp/page092.html 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.
Letter from a Chinese diplomat
In a letter purportedly sent to Japanese fishermen, who rescued a number of shipwrecked Chinese in 1920, by a Chinese Consul Feng Mien (馮冕) in Nagasaki, representing the
Beiyang Government, a
warlord regime, reference was made to
"Senkaku Islands, Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture, the Empire of Japan".http://www.geocities.jp/tanaka_kunitaka/senkaku/testimonial1920.jpg
However this letter is written after the
Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895), under which the government of Qing Dynasty ceded the Senkaku Islands to Japan as a part of Taiwan. The Treaty of Shimonoseki was nullified by the end of
World War II.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Shimonosekihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Taipei.
Geography Textbook
According to the geography textbook published in 1970 in Taiwan, where every textbook had to be officially approved by the government, clearly showed the islands as Japanese territories 「国民中学地理教科書・第四冊(Geography textbook for national junior high schools)」January, 1970.
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.
Recent developments
- 1971: The Republic of China (ROC) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) claim sovereignty
- 1978: The Japan Youth Association set up a lighthouse on the main island.
- 14 July 1996: The Japan Youth Association builds a 5 m high, solar-powered, aluminum lighthouse on another island.
- 14 September 1996: a US State Department spokesman referred to the US's neutral position on the Senkaku Islands issue.
- 26 September 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.
- 7 October 1996: Protesters plant the flags of the ROC and the PRC on the main island, but are later removed by the Japanese.
- 9 April 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."
- 20 April 2000: () was established on Uotsuri Jima/Diaoyudao.A picture of the Senkaku Shinto shirine.
- April 2002: The Japanese government leased Uotsuri and other islands from their private owners.
- 24 March 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 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.
- 24 March 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.
- 23 April 2004: a member of a Japanese right-wing group rammed a bus into the Chinese consulate in Osaka, to protest Chinese claims. GlobalSecurity.org:Senkaku
- July 2004: Japan started exploring for natural gas in what it considers its own exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea as a step to counter China's building of a natural gas complex nearby. Japan plans to survey a 30-kilometer-wide band stretching between latitudes 28 and 30 degrees North, just inside the border demarcated by Japan. China disputes Japan's rights to explore the area east of the median line between the two countries, which Japan has proposed as the demarcation line for their exclusive economic zones.
- July 2004: a group of Chinese held a police-approved demonstration outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing afternoon to protest Japan's "illegal" oil exploration activities in a disputed area of the East China Sea. The protesters, organized by Beijing-based organization called the Patriots Alliance Network, shouted slogans for about an hour, during which two embassy staff members came out to take the group's written statement.
- 10 February 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.
- 17 March 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.(ja) Kyodo News, 17 March 2006 link
- 27 October 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. International Herald Tribune/ Associated Press, 26 October 2006 "Activist ship from Hong Kong briefly enters Japan's waters in protest over islands" Later on, the PLAN conducted a military exercise in the area.(ja) Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 5 November 2006, "中国、東シナ海で軍事演習中に爆発事故"
- 16 April 2008: two PLAAF J-10A multirole fighter peremptorily intercepted a Japanese P-3C anti-submarine and reconnaissance airplane that was flying closely above the Senkaku Islands. The two J-10 fighters were suspected of protecting Chinese nuclear submarines that were operating in that area.
- 8 September 2008: Two Chinese coast guard vessels started routine patrol within 12 kilometres of Senkaku Islands in order to declare the Senkaku Islands as Chinese territory.
- 10 June 2008: The 270 ton sport fishing vessel Lien Ho of Taiwan suffered a collision with the Japanese patrol vessel Koshiki and subsequently sank while in the disputed territorial waters that have been claimed by Japan and Taiwan. The Taiwanese crew who were aboard the vessel claims that the larger Japanese frigate deliberately crashed into them; their assertions are backed up by recently released video footage. Officials drop plan to visit Diaoyutais, Taipei Times 18 June 2008; for the video footage released by the boat crew, see, for example, here While releasing the passengers, Japan initially detained the captain and sought reparations. "Taiwan fishing boat sunk by Japanese frigate" "Taiwan protests as Japan holds fishing boat captain" 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 the islands against Japanese advances. 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 The ROC government recalled its chief representative to Japan in protest. Taiwan recalls top Japan rep as tensions rise over ship collision, Japan Today 15 June 2008 On June 16, a boat carrying activists from Taiwan, defended by five Republic of China Coast Guard vessels, approached to within of the main island, from which position they circumnavigated the island in an assertion of sovereignty of the islands. This demonstration has prompted Taiwanese politicians to cancel a planned trip on-board Republic of China Navy vessels to demonstrate sovereignty. Officials drop plan to visit Diaoyutais, Taipei Times 18 June 2008 The Taiwanese vessels were followed by Japanese Coast Guard vessels, but no attempt was made to intercept them. On June 20, the de-facto Japanese ambassador to Taiwan apologized, in person, to the captain of the Taiwanese boat Lien Ho. Japan apologises over Taiwan boat incident
- 20 February 2009: two Chinese PLAAF J-10A fighters intercepted three Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighters flying close to the Senkaku Islands, and locked their missiles onto the Japanese fighters. After a three minute stand-off, the Japanese fighters returned to Japanese air space. The Japanese government stated it was an act of provocation.
Oil drilling dispute
Japan has objected to Chinese development of natural gas resources in the East China Sea in an area where the two countries
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) claims overlap. Japan claims a division of the EEZ on the median line between the countries' coastlines. About 40,000 square kilometers of EEZ are in dispute. China and Japan both claim 200 nautical miles EEZ rights, but the East China Sea width is only 360 nautical miles. China claims an EEZ extending to the eastern end of the Chinese continental shelf which goes deep into the Japanese EEZ beyond the median line.
The specific development in dispute is China's drilling in the
Chunxiao field, which is three miles west of the median line, but which Japan contends may be tapping natural gas reserves which extend past the median line. The Chunxiao gas field in Xihu Sag in the
East China Sea is estimated to hold reserves of more than 1.6
tcf of
natural gas and is expected to become a major producer in the next ten years. Commercial operation was expected to begin in mid-2005 at a production rate of 70
bcf per year, rising to 282 bcf by 2010.
Sinopec Star has reserves of 7 tcf of gas, 1.9 tcf of which is held in the Chunxiao area.
See also
Footnotes
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.
- John Donaldson and Alison Williams "Understanding Maritime Jurisdictional Disputes: The East China Sea and Beyond" Journal of International affairs. Fall/Winter 2005, vol. 59, no.1
- Note, Alexander M. Peterson "Sino-Japanese Cooperation in the East China Sea: A Lasting Arrangement?" 42 Cornell International Law Journal 441 (2009).
External links