Senkaku Islands

"Diaoyutai" redirects here. For the Chinese state guesthouse, see Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

Senkaku Islands
Disputed islands
Location of the islands (yellow rectangle and inset)
Other namesDiaoyu Islands / Diaoyutai Islands / Pinnacle Islands
Geography
LocationPacific Ocean
Coordinates25°44′42″N 123°29′06″E / 25.74500°N 123.48500°E / 25.74500; 123.48500
Total islands5 + 3 rocks (reefs)
Major islands
  • Uotsuri-shima / Diaoyu Dao
  • Taishō-tō / Chiwei Yu
  • Kuba-shima / Huangwei Yu
  • Kita-Kojima / Bei Xiaodao
  • Minami-Kojima / Nan Xiaodao
Area7 km2 (2.7 sq mi)
Highest elevation383 m (1257 ft)
Administration
CityIshigaki, Okinawa
Claimed by
 Taiwan[3][4][5]
TownshipToucheng Township, Yilan County, Taiwan
 China[6]
CountyYilan County, Taiwan
Senkaku Islands
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿
Literal meaningDiaoyu Island and its affiliated islands
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinDiàoyúdǎo jí qí fùshǔ dǎoyǔ
Taiwanese name
Traditional Chinese釣魚臺列嶼
Literal meaningDiaoyutai / Tiaoyutai Islands
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinDiàoyútái liè yǔ
Wade–GilesTiao4-yü2-t'ai2 lieh4 yü3
Japanese name
Kanji尖閣諸島
Transcriptions
RomanizationSenkaku-shotō

The Senkaku Islands,[a] also known as the Pinnacle Islands or the Diaoyu Islands[b] in China and as the Tiaoyutai Islands[c] in Taiwan, are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan.

The islands are located northeast of Taiwan, east of China, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands.

The islands are the focus of a territorial dispute between Japan and China and between Japan and Taiwan.[9] 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. The United States administered the islands as part of the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands from 1945 until 1972, when the islands returned to Japanese control under the Okinawa Reversion Agreement between the United States and Japan.[10] The discovery of potential undersea oil reserves in 1968 in the area was a catalyst for further interest in the disputed islands.[11][12][13][14][15] 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 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.[16]

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, alongside Tori-shima, Izu Islands.[17]

  1. ^ The Guardian (November 23, 2013). "China imposes airspace restrictions over Japan-controlled Senkaku islands". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved December 3, 2013. China imposes airspace restrictions over Japan-controlled Senkaku islands
  2. ^ France24 (November 27, 2013). "US defies China to fly over disputed Senkaku islands". Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2013. The zone covers the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ 釣魚臺列嶼相關文獻 (in Chinese). Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Taiwan). Archived from the original on October 24, 2013.
  4. ^ 地理位置圖. 宜蘭縣頭城鎮公所 Toucheng Township Office (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived from the original on July 7, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2019. 另轄兩小島（龜山島及龜卵嶼）及一群島（釣魚臺列嶼）。
  5. ^ 我們的釣魚臺 (in Chinese). Central News Agency (Republic of China). Archived from the original on January 14, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  6. ^ 中华人民共和国国务院新闻办公室 (September 25, 2012). 《钓鱼岛是中国的固有领土》白皮书 (in Chinese). 新华社. Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. 1871年......将钓鱼岛列入海防冲要，隶属台湾府噶玛兰厅（今台湾省宜兰县）管辖。
  7. ^ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Senkaku-guntō, Japan Archived June 30, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved September 20, 2010.
  8. ^ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Senkaku-rettō, Japan Archived April 9, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved September 20, 2010.
  9. ^ McDorman, Ted L. (2005). "Central Pacific and East Asian Maritime Boundaries" in International Maritime Boundaries, Vol. 5, pp. 3441., p. 3441, at Google Books
  10. ^ Lee, Seokwoo. (2002). Territorial Disputes Among Japan, China and Taiwan Concerning the Senkaku Islands, pp. 10–13., p. 10, at Google Books
  11. ^ Lee, Seokwoo (2002). Territorial Disputes among Japan, China and Taiwan concerning the Senkaku Islands (Boundary & Territory Briefing Vol.3 No.7). IBRU. p. 6. ISBN 1897643500. The question of the disputed Senkaku Islands remained relatively dormant throughout the 1950s and 1960s, probably because these small uninhabited islands held little interest for the three claimants. The Senkaku Islands issue was not raised until the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (hereinafter 'ECAFE') of the United Nations Economic and Social Council suggested the possible existence of large hydrocarbon deposit in the waters off the Senkaku Islands. ... This development prompted vehement statements and counter-statements among the claimants.
  12. ^ Pan, Junwu (2009). Toward a New Framework for Peaceful Settlement of China's Territorial and Boundary Disputes. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 140. ISBN 978-9004174283. Archived from the original on August 27, 2024. Retrieved October 3, 2020. Obviously, primarily regional interests in oil and gas resources that may lie under the seas drive the two major disputes. The Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands issue did not re-surface until 1969 when the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East of the United Nations Economic and Social Council reported that the continental shelf of the East China "might contain one of the most prolific oil and gas reservoirs of the world, possibly comparing favourably with the Persian Gulf." Then both China and Japan had high expectations that there might be large hydrocarbon deposits in the waters off the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. The Law of the Sea at that time emphasized the theory of natural prolongation in determining continental shelf jurisdiction. Ownership of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands would permit the owner to a large area of the continental shelf that may have rich sources of gas and oil. Such a dispute is obviously related to the awakening interest by the world's states in developing offshore energy resources to meet the demand of their economies.
  13. ^ Takamine, Tsukasa (2012). Japan's Development Aid to China, Volume 200: The Long-running Foreign Policy of Engagement. Routledge. p. 129. ISBN 978-0415352031. Archived from the original on August 27, 2024. Retrieved October 3, 2020. The islands had temporarily come under American control after the Second World War, but the sovereignty over the islands, was handed over to Japan in 1972 with the reversion of Okinawa．However, the PRC and ROC governments both made a territorial claim to the Senkaku Islands, soon after the United Nation Economic Commission issued in 1969 a report suggesting considerable reserve of submarine oil and gas resources around the islands.
  14. ^ Drifte, Reinhard (2012). Japan's Security Relations with China Since 1989: From Balancing to Bandwagoning?. Routledge. p. 49. ISBN 978-1134406678. Archived from the original on August 27, 2024. Retrieved October 3, 2020. The dispute surfaced with the publication of a seismic survey report under the auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECSFE) in 1968, which mentioned the possibility of huge oil and gas reserves in the area; this was confirmed by a Japanese report in 1969. Greg Austin mentions that Beijing started its claim to the Senkaku Islands for the first time in 1970, after Japanese government protested to the government in Taiwan about its allocation of oil concessions in the East China Sea, including the area of the Senkaku Islands.
  15. ^ Lee, Seokwoo (2002). Territorial Disputes among Japan, China and Taiwan concerning the Senkaku Islands (Boundary & Territory Briefing Vol.3 No.7). IBRU. pp. 10–11. ISBN 1897643500. Archived from the original on August 27, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2015. For a long time following the entry into force of the San Francisco Peace Treaty China/Taiwan raised no objection to the fact that the Senkaku Islands were included in the area placed under US administration in accordance with the provisions of Article of the treaty, and USCAP No. 27. In fact, neither China nor Taiwan had taken up the question of sovereignty over the islands until the latter half of 1970 when evidence relating to the existence of oil resources deposited in the East China Sea surfaced. All this clearly indicates that China/Taiwan had not regarded the Senkaku Islands as a part of Taiwan. Thus, for Japan, none of the alleged historical, geographical and geological arguments set forth by China/Taiwan are acceptable as valid under international law to substantiate China's territorial claim over the Senkaku Islands.
  16. ^ Fackler, Martin (September 22, 2012). "In Shark-Infested Waters, Resolve of Two Giants is Tested". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 27, 2024. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  17. ^ "Albatrosses Residing on the Senkaku Islands (1979: Former Okinawa Development Agency)". Review of Island Studies. Archived from the original on August 27, 2024. Retrieved September 3, 2020.


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