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This is about the Senkaku Islands. For other uses, see Senkaku (disambiguation).

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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 WWII. 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.

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 Taiwan Province, 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).

Territorial dispute

Beginnings

Following the Meiji Restoration, the Meiji Japanese government formally annexed what was known as the Ryukyu Kingdom as Okinawa Prefecture in 1879. The Senkaku Islands, which lie between Ryukyu Kingdom and Qing empire, became the Sino-Japanese boundary for the first time.

In 1885, the Japanese Governor of Okinawa Prefecture, Nishimura Sutezo, petitioned the Meji government asking that it take formal control of the Senkaku Islands. However, Inoue Kaoru, the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, commented that the islands lay near to the border area with the Qing empire and that they had been given Chinese names. He also cited an article in a Chinese newspaper that had previously claimed that Japan was occupying islands off China's coast. Inoue was concerned that if Japan proceeded to erect a landmark stating its claim to the islands, it would make the Qing empire suspicious. Following Inoue's advice, Yamagata Aritomo, the Minister of the Interior turned down the request to incorporate the islands, insisting that this matter should not be "revealed to the news media".

On 14 January 1895, during the Sino-Japanese War, Japan incorporated the islands under the administration of Okinawa, stating that it had conducted surveys since 1884 and that the islands were terra nullius (Latin: no man's land), with there being no evidence to suggest that they had been under Qing empire's control.

After China lost the war, both countries signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki in April 1895 that stipulated, among other things, that China would cede to Japan "the island of Formosa together with all islands appertaining or belonging to said island of Formosa (Taiwan)".

The treaty, however, was nullified after Japan lost the Second world war in 1945 by the Treaty of San Francisco, which was signed between Japan and part of the Allied Powers in 1951. The document nullifies prior treaties and lays down the framework for Japan's current status of retaining a military that is purely defensive in nature.

There is a disagreement between the Japanese, PRC (China) and ROC (Taiwan) governments as to whether the Senkaku Islands are implied to be part of the "islands appertaining or belonging to said island of Formosa" in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The Japanese government argues that the disputed islands were terra nullius and not implied to be part of the "islands appertaining or belonging to said island of Formosa but both two states of China disputed the claim by citing Yamagata Aritomo's reasons and decisions to turn down the request to incorporating those islands in 1885.

In 1969, the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) indicated the possibility of large oil and gas reserves around the Senkaku Islands. In the same year, the US expressed its intention to hand over Okinawa and its surrounding islands, including the Senkaku Islands, occupied since the end of World War II to Japan. Subsequently, both the ROC and PRC have protested. The ROC made an official announcement to this effect on 11 June 1971, followed by the PRC on 30 December. However, the United States handed over the Senkaku Islands to Japan on 15 May 1972. In 1972 when the PRC and Japan restored the diplomatic relation, while Deng Xiaoping stated that "the sovereignty is ours", he proposed to shelve up the dispute and co-develop the region. Let the dispute be solved until a better resolution comes up in the "wiser next generation".

Since 1971, the Senkaku Islands have been controlled by Japan and claimed by the PRC and ROC.

Arguments from PRC and ROC

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The two governments of China argue that the sovereignty dispute is a legacy of Japanese invasion of China and complicated by the civil war between two China governments. Their claims include the following arguments:

1. The islands were China's frontier off-shore defence against wokou (Japanese pirates) during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). A Chinese map of Asia, as well as a map complied by a Japanese cartographer in the 18th century, shows the islands as a part of China.
2. Japan took control of the islands during the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894-1895, to whom they were formally ceded by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The letter of the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1885, stating that the annexation of the islands "would attract the attention of the Ching Nation (China)", shows that Japan knew the islands were not terra nullius (No man's land).
3. The Potsdam Declaration stated that "Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine", and "we" referred to the victors of WWII who met at Potsdam, the USA, UK and Republic of China. Japan accepted the terms of the Declaration when it surrendered.
4. Both the PRC and ROC governments never endorsed the transfer of control of the islands to Japan in 1970s.

According to Chinese claims, the islands, known to China at least since 1372, had been repeatedly referred to as part of Chinese territory since 1534, and later controlled by the Qing Dynasty along with Taiwan. The earliest written record of Diaoyutai dates back to 1403 in a 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.

The book also described the early Chinese survey on the islands by stating that "the harbor of Diaoyutai is suitable for getting firewoods and water. (For) setting sails, the water depth is 15 fathoms."

By 1534, all the major islets of the island group were identified and named in the book Record of the Imperial Envoy's Visit to Ryukyu (使琉球錄). and were the Ming Dynasty (the 16th century) 's sea-defense frontier. One of the islands, Chihweiyu, marked the boundary of the Ryukyu Islands. This is viewed by the ROC and PRC as meaning that these islands did not belong to the Ryukyu Islands.

The First Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1894. After the Qing dynasty of China lost the war, both countries signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki on 17 April 1895. The Treaty ceded Taiwan and its surrounding islands to Japan. Although the Treaty did not specifically name every ceded island,, the ROC and PRC argue that Japan did not include the Senkaku islands as part of Okinawa Prefecture prior to 1894, and that the eventual inclusion occurred only as a consequence of China's cession of Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War.

The Japanese government argues that the Senkaku islands were not ceded by this treaty. but the claim is disputed by Chinese governments, quoting the documents of Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1884. In that year, the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs objected the annexation of those islands by stating that those islands were "near to the Qing (China)'s border", "had Chinese names", and Japanese activity "in the offshore's coast of Qing Dynasty had already raised the attention of Chinese newspapers and were warned by China". Following this advice, the Japanese interior minister, Yamagata Aritomo, turned down the request for incorporating those islands into Japanese territory. The Chinese governments see it as an evidence to disprove Japanese claim that those islands were terra nullius when they decided to incorporate them in 1895.

The Japanese government kept postponing the issue and it was only in 1895, when Japan's victory in the Sino-Japanese War was manifested, that the application was finally accepted in a Cabinet meeting. They also claim that the Japanese reference to these islands did not appear in Japanese government documents before 1884.

After the World War II, there was renewed civil war between the Chinese Communist Party and Kuomintang. The two parties formed competing governments, the PRC and ROC respectively. Both governments held undefined positions on the sovereignty and administration on the islands until 1971, when the U.S. expressed its intention to hand over the Senkaku Islands to Japan. Both the PRC and ROC governments protested and claimed sovereignty over the islands as a part of Taiwan..

ROC and PRC governments claim that during negotiations with China over the Ryukyu Islands after the First Sino-Japanese War, the Senkaku islands were not mentioned at all in a partition plan suggested by US ex-President Grant. The lease of the islands in 1896 and subsequent purchase in 1930 by the Koga family were merely domestic arrangements made by the Japanese government which had no bearing on the legal status of the islands."

Arguments from Japan

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The Japanese stance is that there is no territorial issue that needs to be resolved over the Senkaku. It has stated the following points as claim for the islands and counter-argument against China's claim.

1. The islands had been uninhabited and showed no trace of having been under the control of China prior to 1895.
2. The islands were neither part of Taiwan nor part of the Pescadores Islands, which were ceded to Japan by the Qing Dynasty of China in Article II of the May 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, thus were not later renounced by Japan under Article II of the San Francisco Peace Treaty.
3. Though the islands were controlled by the United States as an occupying power between 1945 and 1972, Japan has since 1972 exercised administration over the islands. The PRC and ROC (Taiwan) have come to claim the sovereignty since a submarine oil field was discovered near these islands.

During a private visit 9 years after stepping down from office, former President of Republic of China, Lee Teng-hui, once said that the Senkaku Islands are part of Okinawa.

After the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government conducted surveys of the islands beginning in 1885, which found that the islands were terra nullius (Latin: no man's land) and that there was no evidence to suggest that they had ever been under Chinese control. At the time of this survey, however, Yamagata Aritomo, the minister of interior of the Meji government, put off the request to incorporate the islands, saying that those islands lay near the Sino-Japanese boundary and already had Chinese names.

On 14 January 1895, Japan incorporated the islands into its territory, during the First Sino-Japanese War, three months after its military victory and three months before the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Japan erected a marker on Kubajima and Uotsurijima to incorporate them as its territory. This decision was publicized in 1950. Four of the islands were subsequently developed by Koga Tatsushirō (古賀 辰四郎) and his family, with the permission of the Japanese government.

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 its "Biographies of Foreign Countries" (外国列传) section. Thus, China did not control the Senkaku Islands or Taiwan during the Ming Dynasty. The contrary viewpoint is that this evidence goes only to verify 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 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.

After a number of Chinese were rescued from a shipwreck in 1920, a letter purportedly sent to Japanese fishermen by the Chinese Consul Feng Mien (冯冕/馮冕) in Nagasaki on behalf of the Republic of China (中華民國) on May 20, 1921, reference was made to "Senkaku Islands, Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture, the Empire of Japan". The letter is on exhibition at Yaeyama museum.

The People's Daily, a daily newspaper, which is the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), had written that Senkaku islands is the part of Japanese territory in 1953.

The Washington Times claims that there is a classified map made by the PRC's map authority in 1969 and further claims that it lists the "Senkaku Islands" as Japanese territory.

A World Atlas published in October 1965 by the National Defense Research Academy and the China Geological Research Institute of Taiwan records the Diaoyu Islands with Japanese names: Gyochojima (Diaoyu Islands), Taishojima (Chiwei Island), and Senkaku Gunto. In the late 1970s, the government of ROC began to recall these books, but it was too late.

A world atlas published in November 1958, by the Map Publishing Company of Beijing, treats the Senkaku Islands as a Japanese territory. He also writes that a state-prescribed textbook published in 1970 in Taiwan treated the islands as Japanese territories.

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 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 the United States Military Government terminated its jurisdiction over territories originally specified in Article 3 of the Treaty of San Francisco.

From 1895 to 1940, there was a Katsuobushi (fish flakes) factory and about 200 Japanese resident on the islands. In 1978, a Japanese nationalist group, Nihonseinensha built a lighthouse on Uotsuri Jima, which was subsequently handed over to the Japanese government in 2005.

Historical events

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• 1532: On the 8th of the 5th month (lunar calendar), Chen Kan, leading the envoy on behalf of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China to Ryukyu, recorded the islands as landmarks en route.
• 1561: Ming envoy Kuo Ju-lin, following Chen Kan, set sail from Fuzhou on the 29th of the 5th month and recorded passing the islands as landmarks.
• 1785: A Japanese map by Hayashi Shihei indicated the islands in the same color of that of China, and different from that of Ryukyu. (See "Arguments from PRC and ROC" for more information).
• 1879: Ryukyu was officially annexed by Japan as the Okinawa Prefecture.
• 1885: Japan began survey on the islands.
• 1895: Japan claimed the islands were terra nullius in the middle of the First Sino-Japanese war and annexed the islands. 3 months later, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed by China and Japan.
• 1900: The name Senkaku was first mentioned in Japanese literatures, a translation of Pinnacles.
• 1909: Japanese population of the islands became 248."
• 1945: US controlled the islands after Japan surrendered
• 1970: A Taiwanese reporter of the China Times landed and hanged the national flag of Republic of China.
• December 1971: The People's Republic of China (PRC) first officially claimed (via People's Daily) sovereignty when Japan made known its official standpoint with the signing of the Okinawa Reversion Treaty.
• 1972: The US returned the Senkaku islands to Japan as part of Okinawa.
• 1978: The Japan Youth Association set up a lighthouse on the main island.
• 14 July 1996: The Japan Youth Association built a 5 m high, solar-powered, aluminum lighthouse on another island.
• 14 September 1996: the U.S. State Department spokesman reiterated its neutral position on the sovereignty dispute between Japan and China.
• 26 September 1996: David Chan, a Hong Kong protester, drowned 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. It was later removed by the Japanese.
• 9 April 1999: The U.S. 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: Senkaku Shinto shrine (尖閣神社) was established on Uotsuri Jima/Diaoyudao.
• 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 made a complaint to the PRC government, and the PRC demanded the release of the activists. They were 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 U.S. 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.
• 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 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.
• 10 February 2005: On Voice of America, the 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 near to the disputed waters 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.
• 27 October 2006: A group of activists from the Hong Kong-based Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands approached the islands to show the support for Chinese claims to the Diaoyu Islands. They were stopped from landing on the islands by the Japan Coast Guard. Later on, the PLAN conducted a military exercise in the area.
• 16 April 2008: two PLAAF J-10A multi-role 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 kilometers 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. While releasing the passengers, Japan initially detained the captain and sought reparations. Upon releasing the video taken by people on board the Taiwanese boat, Japan had to agree to pay NT$10 million (US$311,000) as compensation to the owner of the boat. The captain has subsequently 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. The ROC government recalled its chief representative to Japan in protest. On June 16, a boat carrying activists from Taiwan, defended by five Republic of China Coast Guard vessels, approached to within 0.4 nautical miles (740 m) 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. 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.
• 7 September 2010: A Chinese fishing trawler collided with two Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats in disputed waters near the islands. The collisions occurred after the Japanese Coast Guard ordered the trawler to leave the area. After the collisions, Japanese sailors boarded the Chinese vessel and arrested the captain Zhan Qixiong.
• 18 September 2010: 79th anniversary of the Mukden Incident, widespread anti-Japanese protests held in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Shenyang.
• 22 Chinese premier Wen Jiabao threatened further action if the captain of the Chinese fishing trawler were not released.
• 24 September 2010: Japan released the Chinese captain, stating keeping the captain in custody would not be appropriate and raised considerable impact on the Sino-Japan relation.
• 25 September 2010: China demanded an apology and compensation from Japan for holding the Chinese boat captain in the collision incident. Japan rejected the Chinese demand.
• 27 September 2010: Japan said they would counter-claim against China for damage to their patrol boats in the collision.
• 3 October 2010: A group of right wing Japanese protesters marched to the Ikebukuro mall specializing in Chinese food, calling Chinese "garbage" and "cockroaches" and demanding "Chinese Get Out" and "Guard the Senkaku Islands". Japanese authorities described the demonstration as "peaceful".
• December 2010: Joint USA/Japan drill is planned on defending the Okinawa islands. But Japanese Prime Minister Kan Naoto told the parliament that the joint military exercise does not have the Senkaku islands specifically in mind.

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

• 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. Findlay, A.G. (1889). A Directory for the Navigation of the Indian Archipelago and the Coast of China. London: Richard Holes Laurie. p. 1135.
4. 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.
5. Unryu Suganuma (2000). Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations. University of Hawaii Press. p. 95. ISBN 0824824938. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
6. Hagström, L. (2005). Japan's China Policy: A Relational Power Analysis. Oxford: Routledge.
7. 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)
8. ^ Unryu Suganuma (2000). Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 89–97. ISBN 0824824938.
9. "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)
10. 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)
11. ^ "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)
12. ^ 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.
13. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 1, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
14. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 2, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
15. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 3, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
16. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 4, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
17. Japanese Map 5
18. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 5, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
19. Japanese Map 7
20. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 6, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
21. Japanese Map 8
22. Diaoyu Islands / Senkaku Islands map 6, Geography Institution of National territory, Japan
23. , Treaty of Shimonoseki
24. ^ Japan's action off Diaoyu raises concern, China Daily, Sept 10, 2010
25. ^ "Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands". Globalsecurity.org.
26. ^ History of Diaoyu Movement, diaoyuislands.org
27. Explaining Stability in the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands Dispute , Japan Center for international exchange
28. Title: Sangoku tsūran zusetsu.三國通覧圖說. Sŏul : Kyŏngin Munhwasa, 1982.Hayashi, Shihei, 1738-1793.Reprint.Preface by Katsuragawa Hoshū dated Tenmei kinotouma ; introd. by Hayashi Shihei, the author, dated Tenmei 5 .
29. 三国通覧図説 (Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu), 林子平(Hayashi Shihei)
30. ^ On the sovereignty of Diaoyu Islands (论钓鱼岛主权的归属), Fujian Education Department
31. ^ "China's Diaoyu Islands Sovereignty is Undeniable", People's Daily, 25-05-2003. Retrieved 24-02-2007.
32. Japan Focus - Koji Taira
33. Potsdam Declaration(full text), East Asian Studies Documents, UCLA Asia institute
34. ^ 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)
35. ^ "Japan refuses China demand for apology in boat row". Reuter. Sep 25, 2010. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5t0QZuVJb )
36. ^ The Basic View on the Sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
37. Satoru Sato, Press Secretary, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Clarifying the Senkaku Islands Dispute The Wall Street Journal Letter to the Editor 2010-09-21
38. "The Basic View on the Sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
39. ^ "「尖閣は日本の領土」　遭難救助の中国政府感謝状に明記". Ryūkyū Shimpō. 2005-06-15.
40. ^ "China-Japan tensions". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
41. "Lee Teng-hui arrives in Japan". Taipei Times. 2009-09.05. Retrieved 2009-09-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
42. "沖縄県下八重山群島ノ北西ニ位スル久場島魚釣島ヘ標杭ヲ建設ス". Japan Center for Asian Historical Records. Retrieved 2010-10-04.
43. http://english.people.com.cn/200305/25/eng20030525_117192.shtml
44. "古賀辰四郎". The Asahi Shimbun Company. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
45. http://akebonokikaku.hp.infoseek.co.jp/page092.html
46. "Why Japan claims the Senkaku Islands". Asahi shimbun. 2010-09-25. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5t0H8uo0C )
47. Suganuma, Unryu (2001). Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations: Irredentism and the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. University of Hawaii Press. p. 127. ISBN 0824824938. To make matters worse, when on January 8, 1953, Renmin Ribao , the official propaganda organ for the Communist Party, criticized the occupation of Rukyu Islands(or Okinawa Prefecture) by the United States, it stated that "the Ryukyu Islands are located northeast of our Taiwan Islands...including Senkaku Shoto. According to this statement, the PRC recognized that the Diaoyu (J:Senkaku) Islands were a part of Liuqiu Islands (or Okinawa Prefecture). Inother words, the Diaoyu Islands belonged neither to Taiwan nor to mainland China, but to Japan.
48. ^ Suganuma, Unryu (2001). Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations: Irredentism and the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. University of Hawaii Press. p. 126. ISBN 0824824938. Furthermore, the first volume of Shijie Dituji (The World Atlas), published by the Taiwan Defense Ministry and the Institute of Physical Geology in 1965, records the Diaoyu Islands with Japanese names: Gyochojima (Diaoyu Islands), Taishojima (Chiwei Island), and Senkaku Gunto. In addition, a high school textbook in Taiwan uses Japanese name to identify Diaoyu Islands. In the late 1970s, the government of ROC began to recall these books, but it was too little too late -- the damage was already done.
49. ^ Lee, Seokwoo (2002). "Territorial Disputes among Japan, China and Taiwan concerning the Senkaku Islands". Boundary & Territory Briefing. 3 (7). IBRU: 11. ISBN 1897643500. Further support for Japan's claim is the fact that in the World Atlas, Volume 1, East Asia Nations, 1st edition, published in October 1965, by the National Defense Research Academy and the China Geological Research Institute of Taiwan, and in the People's Middle School Text-book. 1st edition published in January, 1970, which is Taiwan's state prescribed text-book, the Senkaku Islands are clearly treated as Japanese territory. Furthermore, the World Atlas published in November 1958, by the Map Publishing Company of Beijing, also treats the Senkaku Islands as a Japanese territory. {{cite journal}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
50. 「国民中学地理教科書・第四冊(Geography textbook for national junior high schools)」January, 1970
51. ^ Inoue Kyoshi, Kyoto University
52. Sakurai, Yoshiko (October 7, 2010). Weekly Shincho (in Japanese) (430). Shinchosha. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) (translated copy of the article)
53. Hiraoka, Akitoshi (2005). "The Advancement of Japanese to the Senkaku Islands and Tatsushiro Koga in the Meiji Era". Japanese Journal of Human Geography. 57 (5). The Human Geographical Society of Japan: p.515. In 1908, the reclaimed area reached to 60 chōbu (595,000m2). The number of residents is two hundred forty some. The number of houses is as many as ninety nine. {{cite journal}}: |page= has extra text (help)
54. (ja) Kyodo News, 17 March 2006
55. International Herald Tribune/Associated Press, 26 October 2006 "Activist ship from Hong Kong briefly enters Japan's waters in protest over islands"
56. (ja) Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 5 November 2006, "中国、東シナ海で軍事演習中に爆発事故"
57. Officials drop plan to visit Diaoyutais, Taipei Times 18 June 2008; for the video footage released by the boat crew, see, for example, here
58. "Taiwan fishing boat sunk by Japanese frigate"
59. "Taiwan protests as Japan holds fishing boat captain"
60. Asiatimes
61. 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
62. Taiwan recalls top Japan rep as tensions rise over ship collision, Japan Today 15 June 2008
63. Officials drop plan to visit Diaoyutais, Taipei Times 18 June 2008
64. Japan apologises over Taiwan boat incident
65. "High-seas collisions trigger Japan-China spat". AFP. September 7, 2010.
66. South China Morning Post. "SCMP." Article. Retrieved on 2010-09-19.
67. Yahoo News. "http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100922/ap_on_re_as/as_china_japan_ships_collide" Article. Retrieved on 2010-09-22.
68. Japan to free Chinese boat captain.
69. Nhật đáp trả Trung Quốc, đòi bồi thường Template:Vi
70. Japan activists rail against Chinese `cockroaches'
71. Taiwan probing report on U.S.-Japan joint exercise over Tiaoyutais
72. Japan gov't support slides on handling of China row The China Post of Taiwan, 5 October 2010
73. Sankei

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
• Senkaku @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.

• Articles with unsourced statements from october 2010
• Articles with unsourced statements from 1 october 2010
• Islands of Japan
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