The are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan. They are located northeast of
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, east of China, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of the
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...
. They are known in mainland China as the Diaoyu Islands or Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands (; also simply ), in Taiwan as the Diaoyutai Islands or Tiaoyutai Islands (), and sometimes in the Western world by the historical name Pinnacle Islands. cites Hagstrom 2005; "The islands are also called 'Pinnacle Islands' for convenience and neutrality sake by Western scholars" In Okinawan they are called . In the
Yaeyama language
The Yaeyama language (, ''Yaimamuni'') is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken in the Yaeyama Islands, the southernmost inhabited island group in Japan, with a combined population of about 53,000. The Yaeyama Islands are situated in the Southern ...
, they are called ''iigunkubajima''.
The islands are the focus of a territorial disputebetween Japan and China and between Japan and Taiwan. China claims the discovery and ownership of the islands from the 14th century, while Japan maintained ownership of the islands from 1895 until its surrender at the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The United States administered the islands as part of the
United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands
The was the civil administration government in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan (centered on Okinawa Island), replacing the United States Military Government of the Ryukyu Islands (itself created at the conclusion of World War II) in 1950, and funct ...
from 1945 until 1972, when the islands returned to Japanese control under the
Okinawa Reversion Agreement
The was an agreement between the United States and Japan in which the United States relinquished in favor of Japan all rights and interests under Article III of the Treaty of San Francisco, which had been obtained as a result of the Pacific War ...
between the United States and Japan. The discovery of potential undersea oil reserves in 1968 in the area was a catalyst for further interest in the disputed islands. Despite the diplomatic stalemate between China and Taiwan, both governments agree that the islands are part of Taiwan as part of Toucheng Township in Yilan County. Japan administers and controls the Senkaku islands as part of the city of Ishigaki in Okinawa Prefecture. It does not acknowledge the claims of China nor Taiwan, but it has not allowed the Ishigaki administration to develop the islands.
As a result of the dispute, the public is largely barred from approaching the uninhabited islands, which are about a seven-hour boat ride from Ishigaki. Vessels from the
Japan Coast Guard
The is the coast guard of Japan.
The Japan Coast Guard consists of about 13,700 personnel and is responsible for the protection of the coastline of Japan under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Th ...
pursue Chinese ships crossing the maritime boundary in what one visiting journalist described in 2012 as "an almost cold war-style game of cat-and-mouse", and fishing and other civilian boats are prevented from getting too close to avoid a provocative incident.
The Senkaku Islands are important nesting sites for seabirds, and are one of two remaining nesting sites in the world for the
short-tailed albatross
The short-tailed albatross or Steller's albatross (''Phoebastria albatrus'') is a large rare seabird from the North Pacific. Although related to the other North Pacific albatrosses, it also exhibits behavioural and morphological links to the alb ...
Chinese records of these islands date back to as early as the 15th century when they were referred as ''Diaoyu'' in books such as ''Voyage with a Tail Wind'' () (1403) and ''Record of the Imperial Envoy's Visit to Ryūkyū'' () (1534). Adopted by the Chinese Imperial Map of the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese name for the island group ( ''Diaoyu'') and the Japanese name for the main island ( ''Uotsuri'') both mean "fishing".
Historically, the Chinese had used the uninhabited islands as navigational markers in making the voyage to the
Ryukyu Kingdom
The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in the ...
upon commencement of diplomatic missions to the kingdom, "resetting the compass at a particular isle in order to reach the next one".Suganuma,
The first published description of the islands in Europe appears in a book imported by
Isaac Titsingh
Isaac Titsingh FRS ( January 1745 – 2 February 1812) was a Dutch diplomat, historian, Japanologist, and merchant.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Isaak Titsingh" in . During a long career in East Asia, Titsingh was a senior official of the ...
in 1796. His small library of Japanese books included by
Hayashi Shihei
was a Japanese military scholar and a retainer of the Sendai Domain.
His name is sometimes transliterated (according to the Sino-Japanese reading) as ''Rin Shihei''.
Biography
Hayashi was born in Edo as the second son of Hayashi Gonhyoue Yosh ...
. This text, which was published in Japan in 1785, described the
Ryūkyū Kingdom
The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in t ...
. Hayashi followed convention in giving the islands their Chinese names in his map in the text, where he coloured them in the same pink as China.
In 1832, the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland supported the posthumous abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation.
The name, "Pinnacle Isles" was first used by
James Colnett
James Colnett (1753 – 1 September 1806) was an officer of the British Royal Navy, an explorer, and a maritime fur trader. He served under James Cook during Cook's second voyage of exploration. Later he led two private trading expeditions that ...
, who charted them during his 1789-1791 voyage in the ''Argonaut''.
William Robert Broughton
William Robert Broughton (22 March 176214 March 1821) was a British naval officer in the late 18th century. As a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, he commanded HMS ''Chatham'' as part of the Vancouver Expedition, a voyage of exploration through th ...
sailed past them in November 1797 during his voyage of discovery to the North Pacific in HMS ''Providence'', and referred to Diaoyu Island/Uotsuri Island as "Peaks Island". Reference was made to the islands in
Edward Belcher
Admiral Sir Edward Belcher (27 February 1799 – 18 March 1877) was a British naval officer, hydrographer, and explorer. Born in Nova Scotia, he was the great-grandson of Jonathan Belcher, who served as a colonial governor of Massachusett ...
's 1848 account of the voyages of HMS ''Sammarang''. Captain Belcher observed that "the names assigned in this region have been too hastily admitted." Belcher reported anchoring off Pinnacle Island in March 1845.
In the 1870s and 1880s, the English name Pinnacle Islands was used by the British navy for the rocks adjacent to the largest island ''Uotsuri-shima'' / ''Diaoyu Dao'' (then called 和平嶼 ''hô-pîng-sū'', "Peace Island" in
Hokkien
The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...
); ''Kuba-shima'' / ''Huangwei Yu'' (then called ''Ti-a-usu''); and ''Taishō-tō'' / ''Chiwei Yu''.
A Japanese navy record issued in 1886 first started to identify the islets using equivalents of the Chinese and English terms employed by the British. The name "Senkaku Retto" is not found in any Japanese historical document before 1900 (the term "Senkaku Gunto" began being used in the late 19th century), and first appeared in print in a geography journal published in 1900. It was derived from a translation of the English name Pinnacle Islands into a Sinicized Japanese term "Sento Shoto" (as opposed to "Senkaku Retto", i.e., the term used by the Japanese today), which has the same meaning.
The collective use of the name "Diaoyutai" to denote the entire group began with the advent of the controversy in the 1970s.
Control of the islands by Japan and the US
As the uninhabited islets were historically used as maritime navigational markers, they were never subjected to administrative control other than the recording of the geographical positions on maps, descriptions in official records of Chinese missions to the Ryukyu Kingdom, etc.
The Japanese central government annexed the islands in early 1895 while still fighting China in the
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...
. Around 1900, Japanese entrepreneur constructed a bonito fish processing plant on the islands, employing over 200 workers. The business failed around 1940 and the islands have remained deserted ever since. In the 1970s, Koga Tatsushirō's son Zenji Koga and Zenji's wife Hanako sold four islets to the Kurihara family of Saitama Prefecture. Kunioki Kurihara owned Uotsuri, Kita-Kojima, and Minami-Kojima. Kunioki's sister owned Kuba.Ito, Masami, Owner OK with metro bid to buy disputed Senkaku Islands , '' Japan Times'', May 18, 2012, pp. 1-2
The islands came under US government occupation in 1945 after the surrender of Japan ended World War II.Kaneko, Maya, ( Kyodo News) Ishigaki fishermen fret over Senkaku encroachment , '' Japan Times'', December 8, 2010, p. 3. 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. In 1971, the Okinawa Reversion Treaty passed the U.S. Senate, returning the islands to Japanese control in 1972.Finney, John W "Senate Endorses Okinawa Treaty; Votes 84 to 6 for Island's Return to Japan" ''The New York Times''. November 11, 1971. Also in 1972, the Republic of China government and People's Republic of China government officially began to declare ownership of the islands.Kyodo News, Senkaku purchase bid made official , '' Japan Times'', September 11, 2012, p. 2
Since 1972, when the islands reverted to Japanese government control, 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.
In 1978, a Japanese political group constructed the first lighthouse on Uotsuri island and grazed two goats. Goats have since proliferated and affected the island's vegetation.
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 Moles can refer to:
* Moles de Xert, a mountain range in the Baix Maestrat comarca, Valencian Community, Spain
* The Moles (Australian band)
*The Moles, alter ego of Scottish band Simon Dupree and the Big Sound
People
*Abraham Moles, French engin ...
and sheep, studied the local marine life, and examined whether the islands would support human habitation.
In 1988, a Japanese political group reconstructed a lighthouse on Uotsuri Island.4. Start managing the "Uotsuri Island Lighthouse" of the Senkaku Islands Japan Coast Guard Annual Report 2005
In 2005, a Japanese fisherman who owned a lighthouse at Uotsuri Island expressed his intention to relinquish the ownership of the lighthouse, and the lighthouse became a national property pursuant to the provisions of the Civil Code of Japan. Since then, the Japan Coast Guard has maintained and managed the Uotsuri lighthouse.
From 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. 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.
On December 17, 2010, Ishigaki declared January 14 as "Pioneering Day" to commemorate Japan's 1895 annexation of the Senkaku Islands. China condemned Ishigaki's actions. 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.
On September 11, 2012, the Japanese government nationalized its control over Minami-kojima, Kita-kojima, and Uotsuri islands by purchasing them from the Kurihara family for ¥2.05 billion. China's Foreign Ministry objected saying Beijing would not "sit back and watch its territorial sovereignty violated."
In 2014, Japan constructed a lighthouse and wharf featuring Japanese flag insignia on the islets.
Geography
The island group are known to consist of five uninhabited islets and three barren rocks. China has identified and named as many as 71 islets that belong to this group after the Japanese Cabinet released names of 39 uninhabited islands.
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.
According to one visitor, Uotsuri-shima, the largest of the islands, consists of a pair of rocky gray mountains with steep, boulder-strewn slopes rising almost straight from the water's edge. Other, nearby islands were described as large rocks covered by low vegetation.
In ascending order of distances, the island cluster is located:
* east of
Pengjia Islet
Pengjia Islet (), also known as P'eng-chia Hsü, Hōka-sho, Agincourt, Dashihshan Islet, Chaolai Islet, P'eng-chia Yü or Pengchia Islet, is an islet north of Taiwan and is administered under Zhongzheng District, Keelung City. It is under Taiwan ...
, Republic of China (Taiwan)
* north of
Ishigaki Island
, also known as ''Ishigakijima'', is a Japanese island south-west of Okinawa Hontō and the second-largest island of the Yaeyama Island group, behind Iriomote Island. It is located approximately south-west of Okinawa Hontō. It is within the ...
, Japan
* northeast of Keelung, Republic of China (Taiwan)
* west of Okinawa Island, Japan
The depth of the surrounding waters of the continental shelf is approximately except for the
Okinawa Trough
The (also called , literally China-Ryukyu Border Trough ) is a seabed feature of the East China Sea. It is an active, initial back-arc rifting basin which has formed behind the Ryukyu arc-trench system in the West Pacific. It developed where th ...
on the south. The shelf is shallow enough that the western islands were likely connected to the mainland during the Last Glacial Period.
Geology
Uotsuri, Kitakojima, Minamikojima and surrounding islets are
sedimentary
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
in origin, predominantly consisting of probably
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
aged
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
and sandstone- conglomerate, with subordinate conglomerate,
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
seams up to 10 centimetres thick, and rare siltstone beds. The sedimentary strata have around 300 metres of exposed thickness at Uotsuri, and have SW-NE, EW and NW-SE strikes, with a general inclination of a dip of less than 20 degrees towards the North. These strata are
intruded
Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form '' intrusions'', such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.Intrusive RocksIntrusive rocks accessdate: March 2 ...
by sheets of Mio-
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58porphyritic
hornblende
Hornblende is a complex inosilicate series of minerals. It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole. Hornblende minerals are common in igneous and metamorphic rock ...
diorite
Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-sili ...
, and are fringed by recent coral outcrops and surface talus deposits. Kuba and Taisho are volcanic in origin, with Kuba comprising " pyroxene
andesite
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predo ...
, lava,
volcanic bomb
A volcanic bomb or lava bomb is a mass of partially molten rock (tephra) larger than 64 mm (2.5 inches) in diameter, formed when a volcano ejects viscous fragments of lava during an eruption. Because volcanic bombs cool after they l ...
s,
pumice
Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...
, limestone, and other rocky material" and Taisho is thought to be consist of "andesite,
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...
breccia
Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix.
The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of ...
, and tuffaceous sandstone".
Wildlife
Plants
Permission for collecting herbs on three of the islands was recorded in an Imperial Chinese edict of 1893.
Several floral surveys have been conducted on the Senkaku islands, with a 1980 survey finding that Uotsuri had 339 species of plants. These ecological communities varied based on altitude, with the communities being divided into windswept mountaintop vegetation with ''
Podocarpus macrophyllus
''Podocarpus macrophyllus'' is a conifer in the genus ''Podocarpus'', family Podocarpaceae. It is the northernmost species of the genus, native to southern Japan and southern and eastern China. Common names in English include yew plum pine, Buddh ...
'' trees, with the understory including '' Liriope muscari'' and ''
Rhaphiolepis umbellata
''Rhaphiolepis umbellata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, native to Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Growing to tall and wide, it is an evergreen shrub with glossy oval leaves, and scented white flowers, sometimes tinged wit ...
,'' inclined high forest including the palms ''
Livistona chinensis
''Livistona chinensis'', the Chinese fan palm or fountain palm, is a species of subtropical palm tree of east Asia. It is native to southern Japan, Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands, southeastern China and Hainan. In Japan, two notable populations occ ...
'' and ''
Arenga engleri
''Arenga engleri'', or the Formosa palm, Taiwan sugar palm, dwarf sugar palm, or Taiwan arenga palm, is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. The plant rarely grows more than 10 ft. tall, with a stem diameter of 6in. and a ...
,'' lowland windswept shrub forest includling ''
Ficus microcarpa
''Ficus microcarpa'', also known as Chinese banyan, Malayan banyan, Indian laurel, curtain fig, or , is a tree in the fig family Moraceae. It is native in a range from China through tropical Asia and the Caroline Islands to Australia. It is wide ...
'' and ''
Pouteria obovata
''Pouteria obovata'' is a tree in the family Sapotaceae. Confusingly, this is not the same plant that was formerly known by the same scientific name, the Andean '' Pouteria lucuma''. The common name in Australia is the northern yellow boxwood. It ...
,'' and seashore plants. Minamikojima was much less diverse, and dominated by grasses, while Kitakojima only had sparse plant life. Kuba has a forest near the crater, which includes a variety of flora including '' Ceodes umbellifera,
Macaranga tanarius
''Macaranga tanarius'' is a plant found in South East Asia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, South China, Taiwan, and eastern Australia. It is commonly seen as a pioneer species in disturbed rainforest areas. Easily recognised for the round veiny ...
,
Ficus benjamina
''Ficus benjamina'', commonly known as weeping fig, benjamin fig or ficus tree, and often sold in stores as just ficus, is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to Asia and Australia. It is the official tree of Bangkok. The ...
Trema orientalis
''Trema orientale'' (sometimes spelled ''Trema orientalis'') is a species of flowering tree in the hemp family, Cannabaceae. The basionym of ''T. orientalis'', ''Celtis orientalis'' was originally described and published in ''Species P ...
, Machilus thunbergii, and Livistona subglobosa,'' with forest floor plants being sparse.
Animals
In an account by in 1900, it was noted the large number of birds present on the islands, tens of thousands of short-tailed and
black-footed albatross
The black-footed albatross (''Phoebastria nigripes'') is a large seabird of the albatross family Diomedeidae from the North Pacific. All but 2.5% of the population is found among the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It is one of three species of al ...
would flock on Uotsuri-shima, in the colder months, while hundreds of thousands of sooty tern and
brown noddy
The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The b ...
would descend on Kitakojima and Minamikojima in the warmer months. He also described the air of Uotsuri as swarming with bluebottle flies and
mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
es. In the same year, an account by , surveying Kuba Island, noted the presence of whimbrel,
Von Schrenck's bittern
Von Schrenck's bittern or Schrenck's bittern (''Ixobrychus eurhythmus'') is a small bittern (birds of the subfamily Botaurinae). It is named after Leopold von Schrenck, the 19th-century Russian naturalist.
Description
The male is uniformly chest ...
, the
streaked shearwater
The streaked shearwater (''Calonectris leucomelas'') is a species of seabird. The adult bird averages in length, with a wingspan. Description
The streaked shearwater feeds mainly on fish and squid. It follows fishing boats, attracted to anch ...
, and the brown booby. Mikinosuke also noted the large number of
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...
s and
feral cat
A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...
s on the island, with dozens of cats descending on the seabirds at night. Kitakojima and Minamikojima are one of only two significant breeding places of the rare
short-tailed albatross
The short-tailed albatross or Steller's albatross (''Phoebastria albatrus'') is a large rare seabird from the North Pacific. Although related to the other North Pacific albatrosses, it also exhibits behavioural and morphological links to the alb ...
(''Phoebastria albatrus''). The islands have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.
Uotsuri-shima, the largest island, has a number of endemic species such as the Senkaku mole (''Mogera uchidai'') and Okinawa-kuro-oo-ari ant. Due to the introduction of domestic goats to the island in 1978, the Senkaku mole is now an endangered species. The striped field mouse (''Apodemus agrarius'') has also been noted to be present on Uotsuri. Surveys from 1900 to 1953 and noted the presence of the
Asian house shrew
The Asian house shrew (''Suncus murinus'') is a shrew species native to South and Southeast Asia that has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 because of its large population and wide distribution. It has been introduced i ...
fruit bats
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...
but these were not noted in more recent surveys.
Six species of reptile have been recorded from the islands, including '' Gekko hokouensis'' (Uotsuri, Minami) '' Eumeces elegans'' (Uotsuri, Minami), an indeterminate species of '' Scincella'' (Uotsuri) ''
Ramphotyphlops braminus
''Indotyphlops braminus'', commonly known as the brahminy blind snake and other names, is a non-venomous blind snake species found mostly in Africa and Asia, but has been introduced in many other parts of the world. They are completely fossori ...
'' (Uotsuri) '' Elaphe carinata'' (Uotsuri) and '' Dinodon rufozonatus'' (Uotsuri).
Rich marine biodiversity adjacent to the islands has been recognized but poorly studied. Seemingly, varieties of larger fish and
animals
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...
inhabit or migrate through the area, including tunas, sharks,
marlin
Marlins are fish from the family Istiophoridae, which includes about 10 species. A marlin has an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long, rigid dorsal fin which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to deri ...
pilot whale
Pilot whales are cetaceans belonging to the genus ''Globicephala''. The two extant species are the long-finned pilot whale (''G. melas'') and the short-finned pilot whale (''G. macrorhynchus''). The two are not readily distinguishable at sea, ...
humpback whale
The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...
s.
Sovereignty dispute
Territorial sovereignty over the islands and the
maritime boundaries
A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of the Earth's water surface areas using physiographic or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources,VLIZ Maritime Bound ...
around them are disputed between the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, and Japan.
The People's Republic and Republic of China claim that the islands have been a part of Chinese territory since at least 1534. China acknowledge that Japan took control of the islands in 1894–1895 during the
first Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...
, through the signature of the
Treaty of Shimonoseki
The , also known as the Treaty of Maguan () in China and in the period before and during World War II in Japan, was a treaty signed at the , Shimonoseki, Japan on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing China, ending the Firs ...
. China assert that the
Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Declaration, or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, Uni ...
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 China state that this means control of the islands should pass to Republic of China, which was part of China at the time of the first Sino-Japanese War as well as of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) respectively separately claim sovereignty based on arguments that include the following points:
* Discovery and early recording in maps and travelogues.On the sovereignty of Diaoyu Islands (论钓鱼岛主权的归属), Fujian Education Department
* The islands being China's frontier off-shore defence against
wokou
''Wokou'' (; Japanese: ''Wakō''; Korean: 왜구 ''Waegu''), which literally translates to "Japanese pirates" or "dwarf pirates", were pirates who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century to the 16th century.
(Japanese pirates) during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911).
* A Chinese map of Asia, as well as the ''
Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu
by Hayashi Shihei (1738–93) was published in Japan in 1785. This book represents one of the earliest attempts to define Japan in terms of its outer boundaries. It represented a modern effort to distinguish Japan from the neighboring nations. ...
'' map compiled by Japanese cartographer
Hayashi Shihei
was a Japanese military scholar and a retainer of the Sendai Domain.
His name is sometimes transliterated (according to the Sino-Japanese reading) as ''Rin Shihei''.
Biography
Hayashi was born in Edo as the second son of Hayashi Gonhyoue Yosh ...
in the 18th century, showing the islands as a part of China."China's Diaoyu Islands Sovereignty is Undeniable" ''People's Daily'', 25 May 2003. Retrieved 24 February 2007.
* Japan taking control of the islands in 1895 at the same time as the
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...
was happening. Furthermore, correspondence between Foreign Minister Inoue and Interior Minister Yamagata in 1885, warned against the erection of national markers and developing their land to avoid Qing Dynasty suspicions.
* The
Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Declaration, or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, Uni ...
stating 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 the Second World War who met at
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...
and Japan's acceptance of the terms of the Declaration when it surrendered.
* China's formal protest of the 1971 US transfer of control to Japan.
Japan does not accept that there is a dispute, asserting that the islands are an integral part of Japan. 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.
The existence of the back-arc basin complicates descriptive issues. According to Professor
Ji Guoxing
Ji Guoxing (季国兴) is a Chinese academic, author, political scientist and professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University.Shanghai Center for RimPac Strategic and International Studies (CPSIS Scholar, Ji Guoxing/ref>
Career
In 2009, he was Director ...
...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 ....Ji p. 11. /ref>
* Japan's interpretation of the geography is that
...the trough is just an incidental depression in a continuous continental margin between the two countries ... ndthe trough should be ignored ....
The stance given by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that the Senkaku Islands are clearly an inherent territory of Japan, in light of historical facts and based upon international law, and the Senkaku Islands are under the valid control of Japan. They also state "there exists no issue of territorial sovereignty to be resolved concerning the Senkaku Islands." The following points are given:
* The islands had been uninhabited and showed no trace of having been under the control of China prior to 1895.
* The islands were neither part of Republic of China 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.
* A resident of Okinawa Prefecture who had been engaging in activities such as fishery around the Senkaku Islands since around 1884 made an application for the lease of the islands, and approval was granted by the Meiji Government in 1896. After this approval, he sent a total of 248 workers to those islands and ran the following businesses: constructing piers, collecting bird feathers, manufacturing dried bonito, collecting coral, raising cattle, manufacturing canned goods and collecting mineral phosphate guano (bird manure for fuel use). The fact that the Meiji Government gave approval concerning the use of the Senkaku Islands to an individual, who in turn was able to openly run these businesses mentioned above based on the approval, demonstrates Japan's valid control over the Islands.
* 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.
* Japanese allege that Republic of China and China only started claiming ownership of the islands in 1971, following a May 1969 United Nations report that a large oil and gas reserve may exist under the seabed near the islands.
In 2012 the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs created a website in support of its claims; in late 2014 the National Marine Data and Information Service, a department under the State Oceanic Administration of People's Republic of China created a website of its own to support its claims. In 2016, Chinese fishing, Coast Guard and other vessels were entering the territorial waters around the islands almost daily and in August 2016 the Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida reportedly told China's foreign minister Wang Yi "that the activity represented an escalation of tensions" according to Japanese sources. It was the first meeting of the top diplomats since the
Permanent Court of Arbitration
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that aris ...
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
) relative to a
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
n submarine-launched missile in the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...
.
On 22 June 2020, the Ishigaki City Council voted to change the name of the area containing the Senkaku Islands from "Tonoshiro" to "Tonoshiro Senkaku". Republic of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that the islands belong to Republic of China, and any moves to deny this fact are invalid. The
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
also condemned the council's move, saying the Islands are ROC territory and the nation would not give up even "an inch" of its sovereignty.
In popular culture
'' Diaoyu Islands: The Truth'' is a documentary film produced by Chris D. Nebe and J.J. Osbun of Monarex Hollywood Corporation and directed by Chris D. Nebe. Nebe calls on the Japanese Government to cede the islands to China, asserting that Japan has no justifiable claim to the islands, and that the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
has turned a blind eye in Japan's favor due to the need of the United States to have a strong ally between it and China. Reception of the film was positive in Chinese media. A 2015 ''
Global Times
The ''Global Times'' () is a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the '' People's Daily'', commenting on international issues from a Chinese ultra-nationalistic perspective. The pub ...
'' article reports that Nebe is "regarded by many as a 'Chinese propagandist an assertion also made in 2014 on the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
Desert island
A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereot ...
*
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...
*
List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another plan ...
*
Okinotorishima
, or Parece Vela, is a coral reef with two rocks enlarged with tetrapod-cement structures. It is administered by Japan with a total shoal area of and land area . Its dry land area is mostly made up by three concrete encasings and there is a ...
*
Paracel Islands
The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea.
The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...
*
Spratly Islands
The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...
Footnotes
References
* Belcher, Edward and Arthur Adams. (1848). ''Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang, During the Years 1843–46: Employed Surveying the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago''. London : Reeve, Benham, and Reeve OCLC 192154 * Charney, Jonathan I., David A. Colson, Robert W. Smith. (2005). ''International Maritime Boundaries'', 5 vols. Hotei Publishing: Leiden. ; ; ; ; OCLC 23254092 * Findlay, Alexander George. (1889). ''A Directory for the Navigation of the Indian Archipelago and the Coast of China''. London: R. H. Laurie OCLC 55548028 * Hagström, Linus. (2005). ''Japan's China Policy: A Relational Power Analysis''. London: Routledge. OCLC 475020946 * Inoue, Kiyoshi. (1972) Senkaku Letto /Diaoyu Islands The Historical Treatise. Kyoto: Daisan Publisher (出版社: 第三書館) (1996/1 「尖閣」列島―釣魚諸島の史的解明 [単行本] ; also hosted in her for online reading (set to Shift-JIS character code), wit Chinese translation by Ying Hui, Published by Commercial Press Hong Kong (1973 釣魚列島的歷史和主權問題 / 井上清著 ; 英慧譯 .
* Jarrad, Frederick W. (1873). ''The China Sea Directory, Vol. IV. Comprising the Coasts of Korea, Russian Tartary, the Japan Islands, Gulfs of Tartary and Amúr, and the Sea of Okhotsk''. London: Hydrographic Office, Admiralty OCLC 557221949 *
* Lee, Seokwoo, Shelagh Furness and Clive Schofield. (2002). ''Territorial disputes among Japan, China and Republic of China concerning the Senkaku Islands''. Durham: University of Durham International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU)
* Donaldson, John and Alison Williams. "Understanding Maritime Jurisdictional Disputes: The East China Sea and Beyond", ''
Journal of International Affairs
The ''Journal of International Affairs'' is a biannual academic journal covering foreign affairs. It is edited by graduate students at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. It was established in 1947 as a nonprofit ...
International Boundaries Research Unit
The International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU) is a research centre at Durham University
, mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1)
, established = (university status)
, type = Public
, academic_staff = 1,830 ...
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The is an agency in the Japanese government, headed by the Chief Cabinet Secretary. It organizes the Cabinet's public relations, coordinates ministries and agencies, collects intelligence, and organizes miscellaneous other tasks for the C ...
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Asia-Pacific. September 24, 2010.
*
GlobalSecurity.org
GlobalSecurity.org is an American nonpartisan, independent, nonprofit organization that serves as a think tank, and research and consultancy group. Focus
The site is focused on national and international security issues; military analysis, syste ...
Hayashi Shihei
was a Japanese military scholar and a retainer of the Sendai Domain.
His name is sometimes transliterated (according to the Sino-Japanese reading) as ''Rin Shihei''.
Biography
Hayashi was born in Edo as the second son of Hayashi Gonhyoue Yosh ...
Waseda University
, mottoeng = Independence of scholarship
, established = 21 October 1882
, type = Private
, endowment =
, president = Aiji Tanaka
, city = Shinjuku
, state = Tokyo
, country = Japan
, students = 47,959
, undergrad = 39,382
, postgrad ...
Taipei Times
The ''Taipei Times'' is the only printed daily English-language newspaper in Taiwan, and the third established there. Online competitors include the state-owned '' Focus Taiwan'' and '' Taiwan News''; '' The China Post'' was formerly a compet ...