Senkaku Islands

Disputed islands Other names: Japanese: 尖閣諸島 Chinese: 釣魚台列嶼 or 钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿 Pinnacle Islands
Location of the islands (inside red rectangle and inset).
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	25°47′53″N 124°03′21″E / 25.79806°N 124.05583°E / 25.79806; 124.05583
Total islands	5 + 3 rocks
Major islands	Uotsuri Jima / Diaoyu Dao Taisho Jima / Chiwei Yu Kuba Jima / Huangwei Yu Kita Kojima / Bei Xiaodao Minami Kojima / Nan Xiaodao
Area	7 square kilometres (1,700 acres)
Administered by
Japan
City	Ishigaki, Okinawa
Claimed by
Japan
City	Ishigaki, Okinawa
People's Republic of China
Township	Toucheng, Yilan County, Taiwan Province
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Township	Toucheng, Yilan County, Taiwan Province

The Senkaku Islands (尖閣諸島, Senkaku Shotō^?, variants: Senkaku-guntō^[1] and Senkaku-rettō^[2]), also known as the Diaoyu Islands or Diaoyutai Islands (simplified Chinese: 钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿; traditional Chinese: 釣魚台群島; pinyin: Diàoyútái Qúndǎo) or the Pinnacle Islands, are a group of uninhabited islands controlled by Japan in the East China Sea. They are located roughly due east of mainland China, northeast of Taiwan, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands.

Since the transfer of administration from United States to Japan in 1971, ownership of the islands by Japan has been disputed by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Chinese claim the discovery and control of the islands from the 14th century. Japan controlled the 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 the islands reverted to Japanese control under the Okinawa Reversion Treaty between the United States and Japan.^[3]

The islands are an issue in foreign relations between Japan and the PRC and between Japan and the ROC.^[4] Despite the complexity of relations between the PRC and ROC, both governments agree that the islands are part of Taiwan as part of Toucheng Township in Yilan County of their respective divisions. The Japanese government regards these islands as a part of Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture and does not acknowledge either China's claim to the islands. The Japanese government has not allowed Ishigaki to develop the islands.

Early historical context[link]

Records of these islands date back to as early as the 15th century. They were referred as Diaoyu in books such as Voyage with a Tail Wind (simplified Chinese: 顺风相送; traditional Chinese: 順風相送; pinyin: Shǜnfēng Xiāngsòng) (1403) ^[5] 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) (1534). 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".^{[citation needed]}

The first published description of the islands in Europe was in a book imported by Isaac Titsingh in 1796. His small library of Japanese books included Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu (三国通覧図説, An Illustrated Description of Three Countries^?) by Hayashi Shihei.^[6] This text, which was published in Japan in 1785, described the Ryūkyū Kingdom.^[7] In 1832, the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland supported the posthumous abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation.^[8]

The first reference to the islands in a book published in English was Edward Belcher's 1848 account of the voyages of HMS Sammarang.^[9] Captain Belcher observed that "the names assigned in this region have been too hastily admitted."^[10] Belcher reported anchoring off Pinnacle Island in March 1845.^[11]

In 1870s and 1880s, the English name Pinnacle Islands was used by the British navy for the rocks adjacent to the largest island Uotsuri Jima/Diaoyu Dao (then called Hoa-pin-su); Kuba Jima/Huangwei Yu (then called Ti-a-usu); and Taishō Jima/Chiwei Yu.^[12] The name "Pinnacle Islands" is used by some as an English-language equivalent to "Senkaku" or "Diaoyu".^[13]

One islet of the group–Uotsuri Jima

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.^{[citation needed]} 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 came to be called Senkaku Rettō, which later evolved into Senkaku Shotō.^{[citation needed]}

The collective use of the name "Senkaku" to denote the entire group began with the advent of the controversy in the 1970s.^[14]

History under Japanese and US control[link]

Japanese workers at a bonito fisheries processing plant on Uotsurishima sometime around 1910^[15]

The Japanese central government formally annexed the islands on January 14, 1895. Around 1900, Japanese entrepreneur Koga Tatsushirō (古賀 辰四郎^?) constructed a bonito processing plant on the islands with 200 workers. The business failed in 1940 and the islands have remained deserted ever since.^[15]

In the 1970s, Koga Tatsushirō's descendents Zenji and Hanako Tatsushirō sold the islands to the Kurihara family of Saitama Prefecture. Hiroyuki Kurihara owns Uotsuri, Kita Kojima, and Minami Kojima. Hiroyuki's sister owns Kuba.^[16]

The islands were under US government occupation authority from 1945 until 1972.^[15] Since the islands reverted to Japanese government control in 1972, the mayor of Ishigaki has been given civic authority over the territory. The Japanese central government, however, has prohibited Ishigaki from surveying or developing the islands.^[15][17]

In 1971, the Taiwanese and Chinese governments officially began to declare ownership of the islands after the U.N. issued a report about possible gas and oil reserves in the Senkaku area. In 1979 an official delegation from the Japanese government composed of 50 academics, government officials from the Foreign and Transport ministries, officials from the now-defunct Okinawa Development Agency, and Hiroyuki Kurihara, visited the islands and camped on Uotsuri for about four weeks. The delegation surveyed the local ecosystem, finding moles and sheep, studied the local marine life, and examined whether the islands would support human habitation.^[18]

Since 2002, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has paid the Kurihara family ¥25 million a year to rent Uotsuri, Minami Kojima and Kita Kojima. Japan's Ministry of Defense rents Kuba island for an undisclosed amount. Kuba is used by the U.S. military as a practice aircraft bombing range. Japan's central government completely owns Taisho island.^[19][20]

On December 17, 2010, Ishigaki declared January 14 as "Pioneering Day". China condemned Ishigaki's actions.^[21] In 2012, both the Tokyo Metropolitan and Japanese central governments announced plans to negotiate purchase of Uotsuri, Kita Kojima, and Minami Kojima from the Kurihara family.^[22]

Geography[link]

A cluster of islets–Uotsuri Jima (left), Kita Kojima and Minami Kojima (right)

The island group consists of five uninhabited islets and three barren rocks.

These minor features in the East China Sea are located approximately 120 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan, 200 nautical miles east of the Chinese mainland and 200 nautical miles southwest of the Japanese island of Okinawa.^[23]

In ascending order of distances, the island cluster is located:

• 140 kilometres (76 nmi; 87 mi) east of Pengjia Islet, ROC ^[24]
• 170 kilometres (92 nmi; 110 mi) north of Ishigaki Island, Japan
• 186 kilometres (100 nmi; 116 mi) northeast of Keelung, ROC
• 410 kilometres (220 nmi; 250 mi) west of Okinawa Island, Japan

The depth of the surrounding waters of the continental shelf is approximately 100–150 metres (328–492 ft) except for the Okinawa Trough on the south.^[33]

The existence of the back-arc basin complicates descriptive issues. According to Professor Ji Guoxing of the Asia-Pacific Department at Shanghai Institute for International Studies,

• China's interpretation of the geography is that

  "...the Okinawa Trough proves that the continental shelves of China and Japan are not connected, that the Trough serves as the boundary between them, and that the Trough should not be ignored ...."^[34]

• Japan's interpretation of the geography is that

  "...the trough is just an incidental depression in a continuous continental margin between the two countries ... [and] the trough should be ignored ...."^[34]

Flora and fauna[link]

Permission for collecting herbs on three of the islands was recorded in an Imperial Chinese edict of 1893.^[35]

Uotsuri Jima, the largest island, has a number of endemic species such as the Senkaku Mole (Mogera uchidai) and Okinawa-kuro-oo-ari ant. The Senkaku mole is an endangered species; and its existence is threatened by domestic goats which were introduced to the island in 1978.^[36]

Albatross are observed in the islands.^[37] Amongst all islands, Minami Kojima is one of the few breeding places of the rare Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus).

Dispute over island ownership[link]

Two of the disputed islets–Kita Kojima (left) and Minami Kojima (right)

The PRC and ROC claim that the islands have been a part of Chinese territory since at least 1534. They acknowledge that Japan took control of the islands in 1894–1895 during the first Sino-Japanese War, through the signature of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. They assert that the Potsdam Declaration (which Japan accepted as part of the San Francisco Peace Treaty) required that Japan relinquish control of all islands except for "the islands of Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine", and they state that this means control of the islands should pass to China.

Japan does not accept that there is any ownership dispute, asserting that the islands are an integral part of Japan.^[38] Japan has rejected claims that the islands were under China's control prior to 1895, and that these islands were contemplated by the Potsdam Declaration or affected by the San Francisco Peace Treaty.^[39]

The controversy has at least two dimensions: (a) territorial sovereignty, which is a legacy of history; and (b) relevant jurisdictional rights and interests in maritime boundaries, which is marked by differing interpretations of the law of the sea.^[40]

2010 collision incident[link]

On September 7, 2010, a Chinese fishing boat collided with patrol boats of the Japan Coast Guard near the islands. The trawler was taken by the Japan Coast Guard, and the captain and crew were held in custody in Japan pending possible charges.^[41][42] China strongly protested, and demanded an immediate release of the Chinese fishermen.^[43] The crew was released on September 13, 2010, while the captain was held until September 24, and none were charged. The incident disrupted official and non-official exchanges and activities between the two countries.

See also[link]

• 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[link]