Senkaku Islands
Encyclopedia : S : SE : SEN : Senkaku Islands
| The [Neutral point of view>neutrality] of this article is [NPOV disputedisputed]. Please see the discussion on the [ The are a group of disputed, uninhabited islands currently administered by Japan. It is also claimed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (Taiwan). In Chinese, the islands are known as the Diaoyutai Islands (钓鱼台群岛 Diàoyútái Qúndǎo). They are also known as the "Pinnacle Islands", a name given by British navigators, which is also the probable source for the Japanese name. The Chinese name literally means "Angling Platform Islands" or "Angling Islands". Their status has emerged as a major issue in Sino-Japanese relations.
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Geography
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
Chinese claimsMing Dynasty claimChina claims that the islands were within the Ming Dynasty's sea-defense area and are a part of Taiwan. According to the Chinese, the islands were first mentioned in literature in 1372 and were first documented by royal visitors travelling from China to the Ryukyu Kingdom, located in what is now Japan's Okinawa prefecture. Their documentation states: "When crossing the sea, we could see black ocean 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."Qing Dynasty claimFrom 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 the area until 1683. That year, Zheng's grandson Zheng Ke-Shuang 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.Treaty of Shimonoseki and the Receding of Chinese territoriesAfter losing the First Sino-Japanese War, China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki on 17 April, 1895. This "unequal treaty" ceded Taiwan and its surrounding islands to Japan, although without explicitly mentioning the islands in dispute today. China's current claim is that the islands should have been returned to Chinese sovereignty 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.Tokyo court rulingChina 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).[link] [neutrality questionable].Japanese claimsFormal incorporationJapan 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.[link] Four of the islands were subsequently borrowed and developed by the Koga family with the permission of the Japanese government.History of MingJapanese scholars claim that neither China nor Okinawa 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. Prof. Emeritus Kentaro Ashida (芦田健太郎) 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" (外国列伝). Thus, China did not control the Senkaku Islands or Taiwan.[link] However, this point is arguably irrelevant because the Qing Dynasty gained control of Taiwan and its surrounding islands in 1683, which was 39 years after the fall of the Ming Dynasty.Beiyang warlord admissionIn a testimonial in 1920, a diplomat from the Chinese Beiyang warlord government admitted that the islands belonged to the Yaeyama District of Okinawa prefecture. Taiwan and its surrounding islands were ceded to Japan in 1895 in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. However, China argues that Taiwan and its surrounding islands were returned to Chinese sovereignty after the World War II in 1945.[Cairo Communiqué]United States occupationJapan claims that after World War II, the islands came under the United States occupation of Okinawa. During this period, the United States and the Ryukyu 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.Japanese scholars point out that it would not have been difficult for the Republic of China (ROC) to occupy these islands in 1945, because the ROC 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 the ROC's lack of willingness to assume authority over the islands. They also point to official Chinese publications that show the islands as part of Okinawa. Taiwanese scholars reject Japan's claim, pointing out that the ROC government maintains 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 disputeA survey in 1968 found potential oil fields in the East China Sea, drawing attention to the islands. The PRC and ROC governments subsequently pressed their claims of sovereignty over them. The ROC officially claimed the islands for the first time on June 11, 1971, followed by the PRC on December 30. Japan responded by counter-claiming (and, arguably, controlling) the islands.Recent developments
See also
External links
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