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The Senkaku Islands (尖閣諸島, Senkaku Shotō, variants: Senkaku-guntō and Senkaku-rettō), also known as the Diaoyu Islands or Diaoyutai Islands (simplified Chinese: 钓鱼台群岛; traditional Chinese: 釣魚台群島; pinyin: Diàoyútái Qúndǎo), or the Pinnacle Islands, are a group of disputed uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. They are located roughly northeast of Taiwan, due west of Okinawa, and due north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands.

Japan controlled these islands from 1895 until her surrender at the end of World War II. The United States administered them as part of the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands from 1945 until 1972, when they were reverted to Japan. Since 1971, they have been claimed by both the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China. China has claimed discovery and administration between 16th century or earlier till 1895.

The islands are a major issue in foreign relations between Japan and the PRC and between Japan and the ROC. Despite the complexity of relations between the two states, both the governments of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and People's Republic of China agree that the islands are part of Taiwan as part of Toucheng Township in Yilan County. The Japanese government regards these islands as a part of Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture.

Names

The first recorded name of the islands, Diaoyu, used in books such as Voyage with a Tail Wind (simplified Chinese: 顺风相送; traditional Chinese: 順風相送; pinyin: Shǜnfēng Xiāngsòng) and Record of the Imperial Envoy's Visit to Ryūkyū (simplified Chinese: 使琉球录; traditional Chinese: 使琉球錄; pinyin: Shĭ Liúqiú Lù) date to 1403 and 1534, respectively. Adopted by the Chinese Imperial Map of the Ming Dynasty, both the Chinese name for the island group (Diaoyu) and the Japanese name for the main island (Uotsuri) both literally mean "angling".

In 1884, the English name Pinnacle Islands was used by the British navy 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 considered part of the Pinnacle Islands. 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".

In 1900, when Tsune Kuroiwa, a teacher at the Okinawa Prefecture Normal School, visited the islands, he adopted the name Senkaku Retto (simplified Chinese: 尖阁列岛; traditional Chinese: 尖閣列島; pinyin: Jiāngéliè Dăo), literally Pinnacle Islands, to refer the whole island group, based on the British name. The first official document recording the name Senkaku Retto was by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nihon Gaiko Monjo (日本外交文書, Documents on Japanese Foreign Relations) in the 1950s. In Japanese, 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.

Geography

The islands sit on the edge of the continental shelf of mainland Asia, and are separated from the Ryukyu Islands by the Okinawa Trough. They are 140 kilometers east of Pengjia Islet/Agincourt, Taiwan; 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.

Japan put these islets under the administration of Okinawa whereas the People's Republic of China and Republic of China (Taiwan) see it as a part of Taiwan.

Diaoyu Dao/Uotsuri Jima, the largest island, has a number of endemic species such as the Mogera 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.

Amongst all islands, Nan Xiaodao/ Minami Kojima is one of the few breeding places of the rare Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus).

Historical events and territorial dispute

Disagreements about the causes of the dispute are an additional subject of controversy.

On one hand, some Chinese have described the territorial dispute as a disruptive mine planted by the United States into Sino-Japanese relations; and on the other hand, some Japanese news media position all discussion about the islands' status within a broader pattern of Chinese territorial assertions. The historical record creates a context for specific incidents in the unfolding history of these islands. Other nations closely monitor the evolution and development of this dispute.

2010 seabed dispute

In September 2010, a minor incident in near near the islands involved a Chinese trawler and the Japanese Coast Guard. This escalated into increased tensions over drilling for natural gas in contested waters in the East China Sea; and the provocative factors are only partially identified in a perceived zero-sum game.

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 (based on UNCLOS III) which goes deep into the Japanese's claimed EEZ.

The specific development in dispute is China's drilling in the Chunxiao field, which is located in undisputed areas on China's side, three miles west of the median line proposed by Japan, 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. This new round of disputes has triggered both official and civilian protests and demonstrations in both countries.

See also

• Sino-Japanese relations
• China Federation for Defending the Diaoyu Islands
• Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands
• Kuril Islands
• Okinotorishima
• Spratly Islands
• Paracel Islands

Footnotes

1. "Senkaku-guntō: Japan". Retrieved 2010-09-20.
2. "Senkaku-rettō: Japan". Retrieved 2010-09-20.
3. Lee, Seokwoo (2002). "Territorial Disputes among Japan, China and Taiwan concerning the Senkaku Islands". Boundary & Territory Briefing. 3 (7). IBRU: 10. ISBN 1897643500. {{cite journal}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
4. Findlay, A.G. (1889). A Directory for the Navigation of the Indian Archipelago and the Coast of China. London: Richard Holes Laurie. p. 1135.
5. Navigating Lieutenant Frederick W. Jarrad, R.N. (1873). The China Sea Directory, Vol IV. J.D.Potter for the Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, London. pp. 141–142. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
6. Unryu Suganuma (2000). Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations. University of Hawaii Press. p. 95. ISBN 0824824938. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
7. Hagström, L. (2005). Japan's China Policy: A Relational Power Analysis. Oxford: Routledge.
8. 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. p. 1. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
9. ^ Unryu Suganuma (2000). Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 89–97. ISBN 0824824938.
10. "Breeding site details: Agincourt/P'eng-chia-Hsu". Welcome to ACAP - Data Portal. Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. Retrieved 27 september 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
11. 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. Laboratory of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Education, Toyama University. pp. 79–87. Retrieved 2006-12-09. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (|book-title= suggested) (help)
12. ^ "钓鱼诸屿名称变异表" (in Simplified Chinese). Archived from the original (Doc) on Unknown date. Retrieved 2009-01-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archivedate= (help)
13. ^ 鞠, 德源. "第十一章 日本国窃踞中国海洋国土篇 - （16） 日本国窃土前后（窃土→放弃窃土→窃土再占）岛屿名称变异综览表" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2008-12-12. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
14. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 1, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
15. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 2, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
16. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 3, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
17. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 4, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
18. Japanese Map 5
19. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 5, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
20. Japanese Map 7
21. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 6, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
22. Japanese Map 8
23. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 6, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
24. Feng Zhaoku. "Diaoyu dispute sowed by US," China Daily (Beijing). September 15, 2010.
25. ^ Fackler, Martin and Ian Johnson. "Arrest in Disputed Seas Riles China and Japan," New York Times. July 19. 2010.
26. Chellaney, Brahma. "India-China: Let facts speak for themselves," The Economic Times (Mumbai). 17 September 2010.
27. "Fisherman's arrest in Asia: China and Japan must not trawl for trouble" Christian Science Monitor (Boston). September 21, 2010.
28. ^ "Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands". Globalsecurity.org.
29. "Chinese, Japanese Stage Protests Over East China Sea Islands". Voice of America.

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 Hawaii 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

• Diaoyu Islands-China's Indisputable Territory.Foreign Affairs University
• Basic View on Senkaku (by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
• Article by Kiyoshi Inoue Professor of History department Kyoto University, and original text and maps in Japanese
• Q&A China Japan island dispute@BBC
• "Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands". Globalsecurity.org.
• Law School Article by William Heflin
• "China's Diaoyu Islands Sovereignty is Undeniable" at People's Daily Online
• Diaoyutai History (in Chinese)
• Satellite image of Senkaku Islands
• Alexander M. Peterson's 2009 Note in the Cornell International Law Journal detailing the dispute, clarifying the legal impact of the 2008 Sino-Japanese arrangement to cooperate in the East China Sea, and proposing increased Sino-Japanese cooperation.
• Ito, Masami, "Japan-China island tensions rise: The ins and outs of the spat over a Chinese fishing boat captain,", Japan Times, 22 September 2010.
• "The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute:", Durham University, 2008. Dzurek, Daniel.
• "INTERNATIONAL LAW'S UNHELPFUL ROLE IN THE SENKAKU ISLANDS:", University of Pennsylvania, 18 October 1996. Ramos-Mrosovsky, Carlos.

• Archipelagoes of Japan
• Cross-Strait interactions
• Disputed islands
• Islands of China
• Islands of Japan
• Islands of Taiwan
• Territorial disputes of Japan
• Territorial disputes of the People's Republic of China
• Territorial disputes of the Republic of China