Senkaku Islands dispute

The Senkaku Islands dispute concerns a territorial dispute on a group of uninhabited islands, the Senkaku Islands, which are also known as the Diaoyu^[1] or Diaoyutai Islands. These disputed islands are currently controlled and administered by Japan, and claimed by both the People's Republic of China^[2] and the Republic of China (Taiwan).^[3] The United States occupied the islands from 1945 to 1972 and holds a neutral stance on the dispute.^[4] The controversial diplomatic issues of sovereignty are marked by a complex array of economic and political considerations and consequences.

Contents 1 The islands 2 The territorial dispute 2.1 Beginnings 2.2 Arguments from PRC and ROC 2.3 Arguments from Japan 3 Alternate approaches 4 Disputes about the causes 4.1 Historical development 4.2 2008 4.3 2010 4.4 2011 4.5 2012 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

The islands

The Senkaku Islands are located in the East China Sea between the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China and Japan. It contains five uninhabited islands and three barren rocks, ranging in size from 0.0008 km² to 4.32 km².

The 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 Meiji government asking that it take formal control of the islands.^[5] 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.^[5] 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".^[5]

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)".^[6]

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 and ROC governments as to whether the islands are implied to be part of the "islands appertaining or belonging to said island of Formosa" in the Treaty of Shimonoseki.^[5] 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 China and Taiwan both dispute the claim by citing Yamagata Aritomo's reasons and decisions to turn down the request to incorporate the islands in 1885.^[7]

In 1969, the US expressed its intention to end the formal period of post-war occupation of Japan, which meant ceding a number of islands including the disputed islands to Japan. Both PRC and ROC asserted sovereignty over the islands.^[8] The ROC made an official announcement on 11 June 1971. The PRC officially announced its position on 30 December 1971.

On May 15, 1972, the United States ended its occupation of Okinawa and the Ryukyu Island chain, which includes the Senkaku Islands.^[9]

Arguments from PRC and ROC

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 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Kuomintang (KMT) over control of China. The PRC's and ROC's 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 compiled by a Japanese cartographer in the 18th century,^[12] shows the islands as a part of China.^[12][13]
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, rejecting the annexation of the islands in the worry of raising China's suspicion, shows that Japan knew the islands were not terra nullius.^[7][12][13]
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.^[13][14][15]
4. Both the PRC and ROC governments never endorsed the transfer of control of the islands to Japan in 1970s.

According to Chinese claims,^[12] the islands, known to China at least since 1372,^[16] had been repeatedly referred to as part of Chinese territory since 1534,^[16] and later controlled by the Qing Dynasty along with Taiwan.^[12] The earliest written record of Diaoyutai dates back to 1403 in a Chinese book Voyage with the Tail Wind (zh:順風相送),^[17] which recorded the names of the islands that voyagers had passed on a trip from Fujian to the Ryukyu Kingdom.^[5]

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).^[13] and were the Ming Dynasty (the 16th century) 's sea-defense frontier.^{[13] [16]} One of the islands, Chihweiyu, marked the boundary of the Ryukyu Islands. This is viewed by the PRC and ROC as meaning that these islands did not belong to the Ryukyu Islands.^[16]

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. In Article 2(b) the Treaty stated that "the island of Formosa, together with all islands appertaining or belonging to the said island of Formosa" should be ceded to Japan.^[18] Although the Treaty did not specifically name every ceded island, the PRC and ROC argue that Japan did not include the 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.^[16]

The Japanese government argues that the 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.^[7][12][13]

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.^[16] They also claim that the Japanese reference to these islands did not appear in Japanese government documents before 1884.^[16]

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 islands to Japan. Both the PRC ^[19] and ROC ^[20] governments protested and claimed sovereignty over the islands as a part of Taiwan.

The PRC and ROC governments claim that during negotiations with China over the Ryukyu Islands after the First Sino-Japanese War, the islands were not mentioned at all in a partition plan suggested by US ex-President Grant.^[16] 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."^[16]

China has protested since the US announced the Okinawa reversion in 1971.^[16]

Arguments from Japan

The Japanese stance is that there is no territorial issue that needs to be resolved over the Senkaku.^[22] 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.^[23]
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,^[23] thus were not later renounced by Japan under Article II of the San Francisco Peace Treaty.^[24]
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.^[25][26]

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.^[27]

After the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government conducted surveys of the islands beginning in 1885, which found that the islands were terra nullius 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.^[28] This decision was publicized in 1950.^[29] 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.^[30]

Japan claims 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 its "Biographies of Foreign Countries" (外国列传) section. Thus, China did not control the Senkaku Islands or Taiwan during the Ming Dynasty.^[31] 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.^[32]

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.^{[33][34][35][36][37][38][39]}

The Washington Times claimed that they obtained a classified map made by the PRC's map authority in 1969 apparently listing the "Senkaku Islands" as Japanese territory.^[21]

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.^[40] In the late 1970s, the government of ROC began to recall these books, but it was too late.^[40]

A world atlas published in November 1958, by the Map Publishing Company of Beijing, treats the Senkaku Islands as a Japanese territory.^[41] A state-prescribed textbook published in 1970 in Taiwan treated the islands as Japanese territories.^[42][43]

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 residents on the islands.^[44] In 1978, a Japanese nationalist group, Nihonseinensha built a lighthouse on Uotsuri Jima, which was subsequently handed over to the Japanese government in 2005.^[45][46]

Alternate approaches

When PRC-Japan diplomatic relations were established in 1972, both nations found reasons to set aside this territorial dispute.^[47] According to negotiator Deng Xiaoping, "It does not matter if this question is shelved for some time, say, 10 years. Our generation is not wise enough to find common language on this question. Our next generation will certainly be wiser. They will certainly find a solution acceptable to all."^[48]

In 1969, the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) identified potential oil and gas reserves in the vicinity of the Senkaku Islands.^[25] During subsequent decades, several rounds of bilateral talks considered joint-development of sub-seabed resources in disputed territorial waters. Such efforts to develop a cooperative strategy were unsuccessful.^[49]

In 2008, a preliminary agreement on joint development of resources has been reached but the agreement only includes the area far from these islands.^[50]

Disputes about the causes

There are disputes about the causes of controversy involving the Senkaku Islands.^[51] For example, some use the term "territorial dispute"; however, the Japanese government has consistently rejected this framing since the early 1970s.^[52] An analysis of incidents and issues require distinguishing between disputes which are primarily over territory and those which merely have a territorial component.^[53]

The real importance of the islands lies in the ... implications for the wider context of the two countries’ approaches to maritime and island disputes, as well as in the way in which those issues can be used by domestic political groups to further their own objectives. — Zhongqi Pan^[54]

Other nations are closely monitoring developments ,^[55] e.g.,

• Senkakus described as a proxy. According to China Daily, the Senkaku Islands are a disruptive mine planted by the United States into Sino-Japanese relations.^[56]
• Senkakus characterized as a pretext. According to the New York Times, some analysts frame all discussion about the islands' status within a broader pattern of Chinese territorial assertions.^[57]
• Senkakus identified as a tactic. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the Senkakus may represent a tactical distraction from China's internal power struggle over who will replace the current leadership of the Communist Party in 2012.^[58]

The historical record is a backdrop for each new incident in the unfolding chronology of these islands.^[59]

Historical development

• 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.^[60]
• 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.^[60]
• 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. Three 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."^[61][44]
• 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.^[62]
• 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.^[16]
• 1972: The US returned the 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.^[25]
• 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.^[25]
• 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.^[25]
• 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.^[63]
• 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.^[64] Later on, the PLAN conducted a military exercise in the area.^[65]

2008

• 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 (聯合號) of Taiwan suffered a collision with the Japanese patrol vessel Koshiki. The vessel sank while in the disputed territorial waters that have been claimed by Japan and Taiwan (ROC).^[66] 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.^[67] Japanese coast guard initially claimed that the Taiwanese boat had crashed into the patrol ship.^[68] While releasing the passengers, Japan initially detained the captain and sought reparations.^[69][70]
• 13 June 2008: The captain was released.^[71]
• 16 June 2008: 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.^[72] The Taiwanese vessels were followed by Japanese Coast Guard vessels, but no attempt was made to intercept them.
• 20 June 2008: Upon releasing the video taken by people on board the Taiwanese boat, Japan had apologized for the incident ^[73] and agreed to pay NT$10 million (US$311,000) as compensation to the owner of the boat.^[74] 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.^[75] The ROC government recalled its chief representative to Japan in protest.^[76] On June 20, the de-facto Japanese ambassador to Taiwan apologized, in person, to the captain of the Taiwanese boat Lien Ho.^[77]

2010

• 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.^[78]
• 18 September 2010: 79th anniversary of the Mukden Incident, widespread anti-Japanese protests held in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Shenyang.^[79]
• 22 September 2010: Chinese premier Wen Jiabao threatened further action if the captain of the Chinese fishing trawler were not released.^[80]
• 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.^[81]
• 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.^[22]
• 27 September 2010: Japan said they would counter-claim against China for damage to their patrol boats in the collision.^[82]
• 2 October 2010: Large scale anti-Chinese protests occurred in Tokyo and six other cities in Japan.^[83][84]
• 3 October 2010: A group of right wing Japanese protesters marched to the Ikebukuro mall specializing in Chinese food demanding to guard the islands against the Chinese.^[85]
• 6 October 2010: Joint USA/Japan drill is planned on defending the Okinawa in December ^[86][87] but Japanese Prime Minister Kan Naoto told the parliament that the joint military exercise does not have the islands specifically in mind.^[88]
• 14 October 2010: Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, along with other members of the LDP party filed a complaint against Google Maps demanding the removal of the Chinese name of Diaoyutai from the interactive map services. Google refused, stating that they wish to remain neutral.^[89]

2011

• 29 June 2011: A fishing boat from Taiwan, named "Tafa 268", with some activists aboard, navigated to waters some 23 nautical miles off the disputed Diaoyutai/Senkaku Islands in the morning. the Japanese coast guard immediately mobilized four patrol vessels to block the “Tafa 268”, and a Japanese helicopter was also dispatched to monitor the Taiwanese boat. The Coast Guard Agency (CGA) Keelung office of Taiwan had sent five patrol vessels to there and managed to break the Japanese blockade to sail close to the Taiwanese fishing boat. Both sides of coast guard vessels reiterated the disputed islands were their own territory but no collision happened, and "Tafa 268" set off for home escorted by the CGA vessels after a 25-minute standoff. ^{[90] [91]}

• 3~4 July 2011: Nine Japanese fishing boats, including one owned by a senior official of a Japanese nationalist group, were fishing near the islands. Beijing lodged a stern remonstration with Tokyo on July 4, 2011, over such Japanese fishing activities. Chinese Foreign Ministry demands that Japanese fishing vessels be immediately withdrawn. ^[92][93][91] On July 3 morning, the Japan Coast Guard found that Chinese fishery patrol vessel “Fishery 201″ in waters near the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. Japanese patrol vessels issued a waring “Do not enter Japanese territorial waters “. China “Fishery 201″ then responded that it was conducting legitimate task in that the waters around the Diaoyu Islands under the jurisdiction of China. ^[94] Also on July 4, two Chinese military aircraft approached the disputed islands. When the planes came within 37 miles of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, the Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) immediately scrambled an F-15 to intercept them. ^[95]

• November 2011: Apparently influenced by the dispute with China over the Senkakus, Japan vocally supported the United States at the November 2011 East Asia Summit in declaring that the South China Sea, much of which China claims, is under the jurisdiction of international maritime law and any disputes over the area must be resolved through multi-national cooperation and dialogue. China, in contrast, declared that any disputes over posession of the South China Sea should be resolved bilaterally, not through multi-nationational forums or talks.^[96]

• November 2011: In advance of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's planned December 2011 state visit to the PRC, the PRC government requested that the two countries begin negotiations over national boundries in the East China Sea. According to Kyodo News, the proposal by China appeared to be an effort to get Japan to acknowledge that a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands existed.^[97]

2012

• January: On 1 January 2012, four members of the Ishigaki municipal assembly visited Uotsuri Island. Ishigaki's mayor, however, stated that the four may have acted without proper authority and people wishing to visit the island should first obtain permission from the Japanese central government.^[98] In response, a group of Chinese activists from Hong Kong attempted to sail to the islands to protests the Japanese actions, but were blocked by Hong Kong- based coast guard authorities and forced to return to port.^[99][100]

Gallery

See also

• Kuril Islands dispute
• Liancourt Rocks dispute
• Spratly Islands dispute
• Paracel Islands

Notes

References

• Curtis, Gerald, Ryosei Kokubun and Wang Jisi. (2010). Getting the Triangle Straight: Managing China-Japan-US Relations. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. 10-ISBN 488907080X/13-ISBN 9784889070804; OCLC 491904160
• Shaw, Han-yi. (1999). The Diaoyutai/Senkaku Islands Dispute: Its History and Analysis of the Ownership Claims of the P.R.C., R.O.C., and Japan. Baltimore, Maryland: University of Maryland School of Law. OCLC 608151745
• Lee, Seokwoo, Shelagh Furness and Clive Schofield. (2002). Territorial disputes among Japan, China and Taiwan concerning the Senkaku Islands. Durham: University of Durham, International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU). 10-ISBN 1897643500/13-ISBN 9781897643501; OCLC 249501645
• Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea. (2000). International Organizations and the Law of the Sea. London : Graham & Trotman/Martinus Nijhoff. OCLC 16852368
• Pan, Junwu. (2009). Toward a New Framework for Peaceful Settlement of China's Territorial and Boundary Disputes. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff. 10-ISBN 9004174281/13-ISBN 9789004174283; OCLC 282968950
• Suganuma, Unryu. (2000). Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 10-ISBN 0824821599/13-ISBN 9780824821593; 10-ISBN 0824824938/13-ISBN 9780824824938; OCLC 170955369

External links

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	Spratly Islands2	People's Republic of China, Republic of China, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam	Brunei, People's Republic of China, Republic of China, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam
	Taiwan and Penghu1	Republic of China	People's Republic of China, Republic of China
Notes:	1Inactive dispute. 2Divided among multiple claimants.