Diaoyu/Senkaku disputes

between Japan and

China:relations on the rocks.

Outline of Presentation

1) Historical origins of Diaoyu/Senkaku

disputes through some official

documents

2) The root causes of the dispute

3) The three scenarios of the

Diaoyu/Senkaku disputes in particular and

Sino-Japanese relations in general

Geographically, Diaoyu/Senkaku islands are located at

the northeast of Taiwan and on the voyage from China

to the Okinawa. (Japan)

They are close to important

shipping lanes, offer rich

fishing grounds and lie near

potential oil and gas reserves.

They are also in a

strategically significant

position, amid rising

competition between the US

and China for military primacy

in the Asia-Pacific region.

11 billion barrels of oil in

East China Sea.

190 trillion cubic feet

of natural gas.

Historical origins of Diaoyu/Senkaku disputes

through official documents

According to Chinese sources the first mention of

the Diaoyu islands is in a 15th-century document

now held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Early sources tended to mention only the islands

location on the voyage to the Ryukyus from China

By the 17th century Chinese sources clearly

named the maritime boundary between the Diaoyu

islands and the Ryukyus as the Heishuigou

(‘Black Water Trench’).

Qing period (1644-1911) records

substantiate Chinese ownership of the

Diaoyu Islands prior to 1895.

After a number of Chinese defeats in the first

Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895),

The Meiji government, following a secret

cabinet decision in early 1895, promptly

incorporated the islands.

China was forced to sign the Treaty of

Shimonoseki (April 1895) and cede to

Japan “the island of Formosa (Taiwan)

together all islands belonging to said

island of Formosa.”

The Diaoyu islands are part of Taiwan

This is to say, Japan annexed the Diaoyu islands

as the war booty.

Why is the row so prominent now?

2002 to 2012: the Ministry of Internal Affairs and

Communications paid the Kurihara family ¥25

million a year to rent Uotsuri, Minami-Kojima and

Kita-Kojima.

11 September 2012: the Japanese governmentnationalized its control over islands by purchasingthem from the Kurihara family for ¥2.05 billion(£16.4 million) .

II. In November 2013, China also

announced the creation of a new air-

defence identification zone, which

would require any aircraft in the zone -

which covers the islands - to comply

with rules laid down by Beijing.

I. China's Foreign Ministry

objected saying Beijing would not

"sit back and watch its territorial

sovereignty violated."

Mutual mistrust between China and Japan led to wrong interpretation, which caused military response.

Japanese

government claims

to have

“discovered” the

islands, a terra

nullius belonging

to no one, in 1884.

What is Japan's claim? oIt surveyed the islands for 10 years in the 19th Century and determined

that they were uninhabited. On 14 January 1895 Japan raised up a

sovereignty marker and formally incorporated the islands into Japanese

territory.

Why the Japanese government made the decision

to purchase and nationalize the Diaoyu/Senkaku

islands in September 2012 can be explained as

follows:

1) The rise of right-wing politicians and

conservative nationalism trying to gloss over

Japanese war history and overturn the

fundamental order after the Second World

War.

2) The rise of China and Japan’s concern about it

Islands have been part of its territory since ancient

times, serving as important fishing grounds

administered by the province of Taiwan.

Taiwan was ceded to Japan in the Treaty of

Shimonoseki in 1895, after the Sino-Japanese war.

When Taiwan was returned in the Treaty of San

Francisco, China says the islands should have been

returned too.

* Separately, Taiwan also claims the islands.

What is China's claim?

A demonstration in

Zhengzhou, China, against

Japan's claim to the islands,

October 2010

After WWII, Japan renounced claims to a number of territories in the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco. Senkaku islands, however, came under US trusteeship and were returned to Japan in 1971 under the Okinawa reversion deal. * Japan says China raised no objections to the San Francisco deal.

The Potsdam Declaration (26

Jul 1945) stipulated that:

"Japanese sovereignty shall be

limited to the islands of Honshu,

Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku

and such minor islands as we

determine."

When the US reformulated its global strategy and placed more emphasis on the Pacific Asia, Japan has made full use of this opportunity to fortify itself as America’s partner in East Asia and stand up against China.

What is the role of the US?

Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for

21st Century Defense (2012) notes that the United

States "will of necessity rebalance toward the

Asia-Pacific region"

“As a Pacific nation that takes our Pacific

partnership seriously, the United States will

continue to build on our active and enduring

presence.”

– Secretary of State John Kerry

Three scenarios of Diaoyu / Senkaku

disputes between China and Japan:

1) A crisis management mechanism should

be established between the military forces

and maritime administrations jointly by

China and Japan, so as to prevent the

escalation of tensions, especially the

breakout of an unintended war between the

two countries.

2) Chinese and Japanese leaders need to put

bilateral relations back and develop the

mutually beneficial strategic partnership in

issues like: FTA negotiations, climate change

and environmental cooperation, and non-

traditional security issues.

3) The real and ultimate resolution of the

territorial dispute over Diaoyu/Senkaku

islands will take a long time only after

China, Japan and the US establish more

balanced great triangular relations and

substantial progress is made in regional

cooperation and community-building in

East Asia.

Thank You for Attention.