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Showing posts with label Ryukyu Islands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ryukyu Islands. Show all posts

Friday 21 September 2012

Who owns Diaoyu Islands?

Historical documents dating back to the Ming Dynasty establish Diaoyu Islands as Chinese territory. The challenge to Chinese ownership came from Japanese annexation of the islands in 1894-5 following the first Sino-Japanese War. 

TENSIONS are rising in the dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands — five tiny islands and three rocks covering a mere 7sq km in the East China Sea.

It is a pity that this is happening especially when Chinese-Japanese economic ties have reached a new level since the end of last year with the two countries agreeing to use their respective currencies in their bilateral trade, instead of the US dollar.

To de-escalate tensions, Japan should make the first move. It was the Japanese government’s purchase of three of the islands from the Kurihara family on Sept 11, 2012 that ignited the present crisis. That decision should be rescinded immediately.

In fact, Japan has been upping the ante on Diaoyu — which Japan calls the Senkaku Islands — for some time now. It will be recalled that on Sept 7, 2010 when a Chinese fishing boat collided accidentally with a Japanese patrol vessel near Diaoyu, the captain and the crew of the Chinese boat were detained by the Japanese Coast Guard for a few days.

Though they were all released in the end, the incident revealed a new toughness on the part of the Japanese. The Chinese have been reacting to this and other such incidents.

What explains this new toughness? Some analysts attribute it partly to the growth of the political right in Japanese politics.

Japanese economic stagnation for more than two decades and China’s success in replacing Japan as the world’s second-most important economy have increased the influence of conservative nationalist forces in the country who are now targeting China.

Impending elections within the ruling Democratic Party and the forthcoming general election have also widened the berth for conservative politics.

It is also not a coincidence that the Japanese right-wing has become more vocal — especially vis-a-vis China — at a time when the United States is seeking to re-assert its presence and its power in the Asia-Pacific region. In the last couple of years, US political and military officials have on a number of occasions underscored the significance of US-Japan security ties.

Even on the Diaoyu dispute, the US government, while professing to remain neutral, has through the Pentagon made it clear that the Japan-US Security Treaty would come into force in the event of a military conflict between Japan and China.

This stance has to be viewed in the larger context of the US’ active military alignment with the Philippines in its recent clash with China over the Huangyan Island in the South China Sea and its support for Vietnam in its long-standing tiff with China over parts of the Spratly Islands and the Paracels.

For both Japan and the US there may also be other reasons why the Diaoyu Islands are important.

In 1968-9, a United Nations agency, it is reported, had discovered potential oil and gas reserves near Diaoyu. The US military, it is not widely known, also uses one of the five islands — Kuba — as a practice range for aircraft bombing.

Whatever the reasons for holding on to Diaoyu, Japan’s claim to ownership is weak. There are books, reports and maps from the 15th century, during the period of the Ming Dynasty, that establish in no uncertain terms that Diaoyu is Chinese territory. The books Voyage with a Tail Wind and Record of the Imperial Envoy’s Visit to Ryukyu bear testimony to this.

Even writings by Japanese scholars in the late 19th century acknowledged this fact. The challenge to Chinese ownership of Diaoyu came from Japanese annexation of the Islands in 1894-5 following the first Sino-Japanese War. China under the Ching Dynasty was too weak to fight back and regain lost territory. But annexation through military force does not confer legitimacy upon the act of conquest.

This is why when Japan was defeated in the Second World War the victors who included China and the US recognised that Diaoyu was Chinese territory.

Both the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration acknowledged this though for administrative purposes Diaoyu was placed under US control as part of its governance over the Ryukyu Islands. The US was then the occupying power in Japan following the latter’s surrender.

However, when China was taken over by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, the US changed its position and began to treat the Islands as part of Japan. The Chinese communist leadership protested vehemently.

In 1971, the US Senate returned the Diaoyu Islands, together with Okinawa, to Japan under the Okinawa Reversion Treaty. Again, the Chinese government in Beijing objected, as did the Taiwan government which also regards the islands as part of China.

Since the normalisation of relations between China and Japan in 1972, both sides have agreed to allow their fishermen to operate in the waters surrounding the islands without resolving the issue of ownership.

Of course, neither China nor Japan has relinquished even an iota of its claim in the last 40 years. Recent incidents have, however, forced this unresolved issue into the open.

Apart from taking the first step by abrogating its purchase of the islands, as we have proposed, Japan should also come to terms with undeniable historical, legal and ethical facts. It must accept the irrefutable reality that the Diaoyu Islands belong to China.

We realise that there are powerful vested interests that will not allow Japan to embrace this truth.

Nonetheless, we should all try to persuade the Japanese government and the Japanese people that it would be in their best interest to do so.

Governments in Asia should convey this message to Japanese elites through quiet diplomacy. Citizen groups throughout the continent should speak up in a firm and courteous manner.

The media too should play its role by laying out the arguments for an amicable resolution of the dispute which respects truth and justice.

Comment by CHANDRA MUZAFFAR

>Dr Chandra Muzaffar is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST)

Related posts:

Japan should drop its sense of superiority and tricks over China, Asia 


China defense ministry acts as Japan buys its Diaoyu Islands 


Saturday 15 September 2012

China's vessels patrol Diaoyu Islands after Japan illegally purchases and nationalizes them

Move displays jurisdiction as tensions keep growing over sea dispute

China Marine Surveillance 15, one of six patrol ships sent by China, arrives at the waters off Diaoyu Island on Friday. Zhang Jiansong / Xinhua

Six Chinese surveillance ships patrolled the waters around China's Diaoyu Islands Friday morning, Xinhua News Agency reported, amid few signs that tensions over the territorial dispute were subsiding.

Television footage showed a Chinese Marine Surveillance officer aboard one of the ships radioing Japanese vessels to demand they leave.

"The actions of your ships violate China's sovereignty and rights," the officer was shown saying. "Any unilateral act from your side regarding the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islands is illegal and invalid. Please stop any infringing acts. Otherwise, your side will bear the consequences caused by your actions."

The patrols are aimed to demonstrate China's jurisdiction over the Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated waters and ensure the country's maritime interests, a government statement said. The government has vowed that more action will be taken if the Japanese government doesn't withdraw its deal to "purchase" and "nationalize" the islands.

It was the first surveillance mission by Chinese vessels in waters around the islands in the East China Sea since Beijing announced on Monday the base points and baselines of the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islets, as well as the names and coordinates of the 17 base points.

"Announcing base points and baselines is the basis of establishing waters under national jurisdiction, on the basis of which the sea territory, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf can be established according to the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea," Assistant Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said on Friday at a symposium.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's cabinet approved the plan to "nationalize" the Diaoyu Islands on Monday, and the next day the Japanese government signed a deal to buy three of the Diaoyu Islands from "private owners".

There is a "sinister tendency inside Japan that is taking Japan and China-Japan relations down an extremely dangerous road", Le said.

"China will in no way recognize Japan's illegal occupation of and so-called actual control over the Diaoyu Islands," Le said.

The Japanese government's "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands has sparked protests and countermeasures in China. The diplomatic standoff between Beijing and Tokyo has led to a series of canceled visits and exchanges.

A trip to Beijing later this month by a bipartisan group of incumbent and former Diet members was called off at the request of the Chinese host, according to Kyodo News.

China Comfort Travel Group stopped accepting reservations to Japan at its 220 affiliated travel agencies across China, according to Xinhua.

The company said the group will not resume Japan-bound tours unless the territorial issue is resolved.

China has a major holiday period from late September to the first week of October and if other agencies follow suit, Japan-bound tourism during the period could plummet.

The Japanese government's moves over the Diaoyu Islands have scuttled bilateral cultural events, further dimming prospects for any fanfare to fete the 40th anniversary of ties.

Chinese pop singer Sun Nan canceled a concert scheduled for Tokyo later this month, and Japanese singer-songwriter Shinji Tanimura will postpone a Sept 25 concert in Beijing.

Both concerts had been organized to mark the 40th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties.

Panetta visit

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta departs this weekend on an Asian tour with stops in Japan, China and New Zealand. He has decided to stop in Japan prior to his China visit, given the escalating tensions between the two countries, according to Kyodo News.

Panetta is scheduled to meet Japanese Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto and Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba on Monday.

"The US government should stay neutral," said Gao Hong, deputy director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The US was directly involved in making the Diaoyu Islands a dispute.

In 1951, the Treaty of Peace with Japan was signed between Japan, the US and other countries, placing the Ryukyu Islands (known as Okinawa today) under the administration of the US. In 1953 the Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands under control of the US arbitrarily expanded its jurisdiction to include the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islets, which are Chinese territories. In 1971, Japan and the US signed the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, which included the Diaoyu Islands and other islets to be reverted to Japan.

China has firmly opposed and never recognized the backroom deals between Japan and the US.

By Cai Hong and Zhang Yunbi ( China Daily)

Related:

Anti Japanese rally over Diayo Island erupted in twenty over cities in China :



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