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The Senkaku Islands (Japanese: 尖閣諸島; Senkaku-Shotō) are islands currently under Japanese control but claimed by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan), by which they are known as Diaoyutai Islands or Diaoyu Islands—both literally mean "Fishing Islands." (Simplified Chinese: 钓鱼台群岛 Pinyin: Diàoyútái Qúndǎo or 钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿 Pinyin: Diàoyúdǎo jíqí fùshǔdǎoyǔ; Traditional Chinese: 釣魚台列嶼 Pinyin: Diàoyútái Lièyǔ) They are also known as the Pinnacle Islands, named by the British navigators, and the probable source of the Japanese name. 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

⊕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 Daxi Village (大溪里), Toucheng Township, Yilan County, Taiwan Province.

Chinese rule or terra nullius

China claims that it had already ruled the islands before Japan controlled them, while Japan claims that they were terra nullius, i.e. unclaimed territory.

The islands were on the sea route between Okinawa and Fujian. Therefore, they were often passed by Chinese envoys travelling to the Ryukyu Kingdom and, much more frequently, Okinawan ships.

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 from 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 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." When the ex-Ming Dynasty general Zheng Jing was defeated during the Qing Dynasty, Taiwan and its surrounding islands became under the control of the Qing. The islands were only used as a navigational landmark for the trip to Ryukyu kingdoms. Some Chinese suggest 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 the credibility of this statement is questionable.

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. Japanese scholars point out that the History of Ming (明史), the official history book of the Ming Dynasty compiled during the Qing period, classifies Taiwan and surrounding islands as "foreign countries". They also point to other official Chinese records covering Taiwan and Fujian that never mention these islands. In their view, it is certain that no one effectively controlled them.

Japan's formal incorporation and the Treaty of Shimonoseki

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. Thus, in a cabinet decision on 14 January 1895, Japan decided to erect a marker on the islands to formally incorporate them into its territory. Four of the islands were borrowed and developed by the Koga family.

Today China does not recognize Japan's formal incorporation of the islands and claims that the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 17 April 1895, in which China ceded Taiwan to Japan, ceded the islands to Japan, although the treaty does not explicitly mention them. Thus, China claims that the the islands 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 and the Treaty of Taipei.

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.

An important basis for the Chinese claim comes from a 1944 court ruling in Japan. In that year, the Tokyo court ruled that the islands are part of Taihoku Prefecture (Taipei Prefecture), following a dispute between Okinawa Prefecture and Taihoku Prefecture. The contents of the San Francisco Treaty itself regarding Taiwan (and by extension, the disputed islands) are sometimes disputed.

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.

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 lands, planning to stay on the Islands for 3 days. The seven who land on the Islands 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. Japan subsequently banned anybody from landing on the islands without prior permission.
• February 2005 Japan plans 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 will be managed by the Japanese Coast Guard.
• June 2005: Taiwan dispatched a frigate after ROC fishing vessels were harassed by Japanese patrol boats. The frigate was not challenged and returned to Taiwan without incident. Fisheries talks between Taipei and Tokyo in July are expected to discuss fishing rights but are not expected to cover sovereignty issues.

See also

• Sino-Japanese relations

External links

• History
• Basic View on Senkaku (by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
• Article by Professor Koji Taira
• [http://www.skycitygallery.com/japan/diaohist.html Article by by Kiyoshi Inoue

Professor of History department Kyoto University, Japan ]

• Senkaku @BBC
• Article by globalsecurity.org (with some maps)

• Disputed territories